Jurassic Park Michael Crichton
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The following sections of this BookRags Premium Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
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The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". © 1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". © 1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
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No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution or information storage retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher. Table of Contents
Plot Summary...... 1
Introduction...... 3
Prologue...... 4
Chapter 1...... 5
Chapter 2...... 6
Chapter 3...... 7
Chapter 4...... 8
Chapter 5...... 9
Chapter 6...... 10
Chapter 7...... 11
Chapter 8...... 12
Chapter 9...... 13
Chapter 10...... 14
Chapter 11...... 16
i Table of Contents
Chapter 12...... 17
Chapter 13...... 18
Chapter 14...... 19
Chapter 15...... 20
Chapter 16...... 21
Chapter 17...... 22
Chapter 18...... 23
Chapter 19...... 24
Chapter 20...... 25
Chapter 21...... 26
Chapter 22...... 27
Chapter 23...... 28
Chapter 24...... 29
Chapter 25...... 30
ii Table of Contents
Chapter 26...... 31
Chapter 27...... 32
Chapter 28...... 33
Chapter 29...... 34
Chapter 30...... 35
Chapter 31...... 37
Chapter 32...... 38
Chapter 33...... 39
Chapter 34...... 40
Chapter 35...... 41
Chapter 36...... 42
Chapter 37...... 43
Chapter 38...... 44
Chapter 39...... 45
iii Table of Contents
Chapter 40...... 46
Chapter 41...... 47
Chapter 42...... 48
Chapter 43...... 49
Chapter 44...... 50
Chapter 45...... 51
Chapter 46...... 53
Chapter 47...... 55
Chapter 48...... 56
Chapter 49...... 58
Chapter 50...... 59
Chapter 51...... 60
Chapter 52...... 61
Chapter 53...... 62
iv Table of Contents
Chapter 54...... 63
Chapter 55...... 64
Chapter 56...... 65
Chapter 57...... 66
Chapter 58...... 67
Epilogue...... 68
Characters...... 69 Dr. Alan Grant...... 69 Ian Malcolm...... 69 John Hammond...... 70 Tim Murphy...... 70 Alexis Murphy...... 70 Donald Gennaro...... 71 Dennis Nedry...... 71 Dr. Ellie Sattler...... 71
Objects/Places...... 72 Costa Rica...... 72 Jurassic Park...... 72 Helicopters...... 72 The Control Room...... 73 The Computer System...... 73 The Compound...... 73
v Table of Contents
Objects/Places Amber...... 74 Frog DNA...... 74 Procompsognathids...... 75 Tyrannosaurus Rex...... 75 Raptor...... 75 Gilette Foamy Shaving Cream Bottle...... 76 "Welcome to Jurassic Park" Sign...... 76 Toyota Land Cruisers...... 76 Jeeps...... 77 Security Measures...... 77 Dilophosaurus...... 77 The River...... 78
Social Concerns...... 79
Techniques...... 82
Themes...... 83
Significant Topics...... 85 The Power of Life...... 85 The Folly of Greed...... 86 People Versus Nature...... 87
Style...... 89 Point of View...... 89 Setting...... 89 Language and Meaning...... 90
vi Table of Contents
Style Structure...... 90
Quotes...... 91
Adaptations...... 93
Key Questions...... 95
Topics for Discussion...... 98
Literary Precedents...... 99
Related Titles...... 100
Copyright Information...... 101
vii Plot Summary
Jurassic Park opens in South America with several unusual and dangerous interactions between people and an unknown animal. Through miscommunication and cover-up, no one is able to determine exactly what is going on in Costa Rica. Meanwhile, in the Badlands, paleontologist Dr. Grant and paleobotanist Dr. Sattler are unearthing dinosaur bones. They get a call from their benefactor, the wealthy and eccentric entrepreneur John Hammond, who asks that they join him for a weekend consultation.
The two scientists, along with a mathematician and a lawyer, fly with Hammond to a private island off the coast of Costa Rica. Here, they discover that Hammond's genetic engineering company has created a zoo of real dinosaurs, cloned from DNA trapped in fossilized tree sap. The group, along with Hammond's grandchildren, takes the very first tour of the island. While some people are there for neutral scientific observation, the mathematician, Ian Malcolm, continues to assert his prediction that the island park is doomed to fail because life cannot be constrained by boundaries, in spite of the safeguards built into the genetic structure of the dinosaurs.
While on the tour, all the power goes out. They are trapped, waiting for it to come back on. A man named Dennis Nedry, a Computer Engineer who is bribed by one of Hammond's competitors to steal dinosaur embryos, caused the system failure. Because of the system failure, the dinosaurs get loose, proving Malcolm's prediction.
While the control room struggles to regain control of the computer system, the Tyrannosaurus rex attacks the group on tour. Dr. Grant and the two children barely escape. A dinosaur kills Nedry, one of the only people who can repair the computer system.
Dr. Grant and Hammond's grandchildren fight for their lives, as they struggle to get back to the tourist compound in order to alert the authorities that raptors have escaped
Plot Summary 1 the island and are on a ship bound for the mainland.
Search parties are unable to locate the paleontologist or the children, but they do find Malcolm, who is alive but wounded.
Dr. Grant and the children, Tim and Alexis, make their way back to the compound in a series of increasingly dangerous situations. They encounter a variety of dinosaurs, especially the dangerous Tyrannosaurus rex, who relentlessly pursues them.
In the control room, Hammond and his team of engineers and scientists continue to try to regain control of the park. They realize that their only hope to regain control is in a maintenance shed nearby, but to get there they have to face the raptors. A team of them arms themselves and fights their way toward the shed, but are unsuccessful. The other people who know how to get the system back online are killed.
Dr. Grant and the two children narrowly evade the Tyrannosaurus rex one last time, because of a delayed tranquilizer drug finally taking action in the dinosaur's body. They make it back to the tourist compound, only to find that it is in shambles, and everyone else is trapped in the lodge by the raptors.
Dr. Grant gets to the shed and restarts the generator. The children trap one raptor; make their way to the control room; and begin regaining control of the computer system. They are cornered by three raptors that Dr. Grant is able to kill. Two remaining raptors are about to enter the lodge and kill the people who are taking refuge there. However, Dr. Grant and the children, who get the computer system back online, stop them at the last minute.
Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler head back into the park to look for a nest of raptors, in order to destroy it. They do not get a chance to destroy it, though, because the raptors run away in a confusing behavior pattern. The scientists give chase and discover that the raptors are preparing to migrate. The Costa Rican military arrives just in time to take them away. The island is destroyed.
Plot Summary 2 Introduction
Introduction Summary
The introduction to Jurassic Park reads like an essay in three parts. The first part is an analysis of the biotechnological revolution sweeping the 20th century. The essay identifies three issues with genetic engineering and describes why they are dangerous problems. It asserts that genetic engineering research is widespread. Unlike previous technological revolutions, the goal of genetic engineering is simply for the comfort and convenience of humanity, rather than for any real advancement. It is uncontrolled, because no government body monitors the industry. The second part of the essay describes the historical timeline of the commercialization of biotechnology, naming names, while citing dates and places. The third part of the essay describes the company called International Genetic Technologies (InGen) and their bankruptcy, following unreported incidents in Central America.
Introduction Analysis
The introduction plays a clever part in Jurassic Park, by quickly educating the reader about the dangerous history of biotechnology. At the same time, it ties a fictional company together with real history. Using educated opinion and historical fact, Crichton is able to set the foundation to introduce a fictional company into a real world, thereby making it seem genuine. This conjured reality will serve to increase the tension later in the book as characters, who seem authentic themselves, face danger that seems equally real to the reader. Compare this with other books that do not make an attempt to root the fiction in reality, and it is easy to see why Jurassic Park is such a successful book: The fiction is made to seem real.
Introduction 3 Prologue
Prologue Summary
A tropical storm drenches a clinic on the West Coast of Costa Rica. The reader is introduced to visiting physician, Bobby Carter. She normally works in emergency medicine in Chicago. She and her assistant hear a helicopter approach, and they go to see it land. They note the words "InGen Construction" on the side. A man named Ed Regis gets out of the helicopter with the crew, and they carry a young man from the helicopter into the emergency room.
Dr. Carter knows that InGen Construction is building a resort on a nearby island. Ed Regis tells her that the young man they carried into the hospital was hurt when a backhoe ran over him. She begins to examine the man and notices that his injuries are not congruent with what Ed Regis told her. She has her assistant take photos and prepare the patient for emergency surgery. As she carries out her examination, she reaches the conclusion that the patient was wounded by an animal, not by a backhoe. Furthermore, the young man has defensive wounds on his hands. She hears him say the words "Raptor. Lo sa raptor," just before he dies. The construction crew takes the body away. After they leave, Dr. Carter notices that the camera, used to take photos of the wound, is also gone. Later in her room, Dr. Carter looks up the word "raptor" in the dictionary. She discovers the definition of "raptor" is "bird of prey."
Prologue Analysis
The prologue makes a leap from the analytical essay into the heart of the action. The prologue serves as a teaser, since a medical expert is able to identify that lies and the theft of her camera are used to cover up a deadly, inexplicable incident.
Prologue 4 Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Summary
Rather than being divided into parts, the book is divided into iterations. Iteration one, Chapter 1, is the story of a happy family on vacation: a wealthy real estate developer named Mike Bowman, his wife Ellen, and their daughter, Tina. The short chapter follows the family and their carefree banter, as they drive through the jungle of Costa Rica. They stop at a beach, and Tina goes off to play. After running off a short distance, she stops to rest in the shade and notices bird tracks all around the sand. She is a bright child, and when she notices a lizard that can stand on its hind legs, she leaves the three-toed bird tracks she had just seen. Having never seen a creature like this before, she eagerly begins to draw it. It jumps up on her, and the reader is taken back to her parents, who are searching for her along the beach. Then they hear her screaming.
Chapter 1 Analysis
The book's division into iteration further supports the feeling of a realistic scientific account, rather than a fictional book. Chapter 1 introduces us to the Bowmans, a friendly family who discover a strange creature, one that makes their young daughter scream. This heightens the drama. From the prologue, the reader already knows that something is out there and has hurt a construction worker. Now, the reader hears a hint that a creature may have hurt a young girl. This heightens the suspense and the danger factor.
Chapter 1 5 Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Summary
The reader is not left hanging for long. The Bowman family has arrived at a clinic in Puntarenas. They're meeting with a highly capable doctor, Dr. Cruz. Their daughter's arm is covered in multiple bites the size of a thumb print. Although Mike Bowman recalls a harrowing drive to the clinic from the beach, their daughter is safe now and recovering. The Bowmans describe the creature to the doctor and show him the picture their daughter drew. Although he does not recognize the creature, he refers them to another man who he believes can: Dr. Guitierrez, a researcher. They describe the animal to him, and he quickly identifies it as a basilisk lizard. The description of the daughter's symptoms confirms his hypothesis. Even the picture that Tina drew confirms his belief, although he believes that Tina's drawing is an inaccurate rendition. The Bowmans disagree, claiming their bright daughter is observant. Samples of the lizard's saliva are sent to the lab and forwarded to the university in San Jose.
The chapter ends with a recovered Tina and her family leaving the hospital. As they leave, they have one final conversation with Dr. Cruz, which reiterates Tina's observation skills and supports the accuracy of her drawing. In spite of Dr. Guitierrez's conclusion, the lizard had three toes and walked on its hind legs.
Chapter 2 Analysis
The initial tension of a potentially wounded young child is alleviated, and everything seems to be back to normal. The final conversation, though, jars the reader into the realization that even the experts cannot make an accurate and final determination of the creature that attacked the child. So, rather than neatly drawing this small story to a close, the writer has left another large question mark dangling for the reader.
Chapter 2 6 Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Summary
The chapter takes place on the same beach where Tina was attacked two chapters earlier. Dr. Guitierrez is alone and searching for clues to Tina's attack. His curiosity had been piqued because of small inconsistencies in his theory on the attacking lizard. The bite size was too large for the basilisk lizard, and that kind of lizard doesn't attack people. Furthermore, there was another lizard sighting from a local grandmother. He is just about to give up his fruitless search, when he sees a monkey running with something in its mouth. It appears to be a lizard in the monkey's mouth. So, he shoots his dart gun, hits the monkey, and retrieves the body of the lizard.
Chapter 3 Analysis
The man who, two chapters earlier, was considered an expert with irrefutable evidence of his conclusion, is now not so sure of himself. The reader is given insight into his thinking, as he reviews his own personal research between the time the reader last read about him to the present. In that time, Dr. Guitierrez has found that his expert opinion is inaccurate. Upon catching the lizard, the reader, along with Dr. Guitierrez, begins to sense that this misunderstanding will all be concluded, shortly, with the identification of the lizard body.
Chapter 3 7 Chapter 4
Chapter 4 Summary
Dr. Richard Stone is the head of the Tropical Disease Laboratory of Columbia University Medical Center. Stone and his team open a package and find the frozen remains of the lizard that had been shipped by Dr. Guitierrez from Costa Rica. Almost casually, they begin their work, reading from the Costa Rican researcher's notes. They determine that the lizard body contains no diseases. They immediately send their findings to Dr. Guitierrez and go about the rest of their day-to-day routine. Dr. Guitierrez misinterprets the memo as a confirmation of his initial assumption that the lizard is a basilisk lizard. His curiosity is allayed. The chapter finishes off with an alarming and gruesome description of a midwife who walks into a newborn baby's room and notices three lizards around the cradle, consuming the flesh of the now dead baby.
Chapter 4 Analysis
The reader is now virtually calling out to the characters, as Dr. Stone and his team perform an inadequate job of studying the lizard, while Dr. Guitierrez misinterprets the memo he receives from them. The reader knows that something is terribly wrong, and miscommunication means that the potentially dangerous situation goes unnoticed. The potential danger becomes terrifying horror when the reader, along with the midwife, discovers the dead baby in its cradle. There is no doubt that something is terribly wrong in Costa Rica, and no one is safe from it.
Chapter 4 8 Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Summary
The midwife does not report the death of the baby properly, but attributes its demise to sudden infant death syndrome. The lab in San Jose discovers that the saliva is different from what they would expect in wild animals. Meanwhile, the staff at the Tropical Diseases Laboratory at Columbia University looks at Tina Bowman's drawing, which was sent with the lizard carcass. They determine that the picture is an accurate rendition of a dinosaur. One member of the team offers to take the lizard carcass to museum for a second opinion, but Dr. Stone puts the carcass back into the freezer and tells them not to worry about it.
Chapter 5 Analysis
The last chapter in the first iteration gives a scientific confirmation of the reader's worst fears. The stories of Tina Bowman and of the midwife are no longer separate, unconnected incidents involving wild animals. There is now evidence to support a more terrifying conclusion. The tension is heightened, as the reader learns that the midwife lies about the death of the baby in order to protect her job. Another opportunity to stop the threat is lost, and Dr. Stone ignores the clues that suggest the carcass is more than a lizard.
Chapter 5 9 Chapter 6
Chapter 6 Summary
The first chapter of the second iteration takes the reader to an archaeological dig in Montana, where University of Denver paleontologist, Alan Grant, is hard at work. He is a barrel-chested, 40 year-old man with an attractive, 24 year-old co-worker, named Ellie Sattler, a paleobotanist. Bob Morris, a young man from the Environmental Protection Agency, visits them. Morris asks Dr Grant questions about the Hammond Foundation and their involvement in supporting Grant's dinosaur dig, as well as other dinosaur digs around the world. The man from the E.P.A. asks Grant other questions as well, regarding the InGen Corporation for which Grant had done some consulting work years earlier. Grant tells Morris that his consulting work centered on the eating habits of dinosaurs, but he did not complete the project, because he found the InGen Corporation too much trouble to work with. Morris tells Grant that the E. P.A. suspects the InGen Corporation has been setting up an intricate computer system and biotechnology lab on an island off of Costa Rica. Although the EPA suspects Hammond is evading the law, Morris says their hands are tied, and they will likely close the file.
Chapter 6 Analysis
The first chapter in the second iteration leaves the tension from the first iteration unresolved and takes the reader to a dusty archaeological dig. There, they meet the man and woman who will play primary roles in the book. Their expertise is established, as well as their passion for dinosaurs and disdain for the establishment. Although the chapter does not come right out to say it, the reader can easily infer that the Hammond Foundation and the InGen Corporation are run by the same man, and that he has a lot of wealth and a drive to know about dinosaurs that goes beyond mere interest. In fact, readers will easily make the connection to the danger described in the first iteration.
Chapter 6 10 Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Summary
Grant and Sattler receive a fax from the Tropical Diseases Center. When it is described on the phone, they initially jump to the conclusion that the lizard carcass is a basilisk lizard. The fax shows an x-ray that they immediately identify as a procompsognathus, which is a dinosaur that lived 220 million years ago. They ponder the possibility that it is a hoax, but while they are looking at the fax, they receive a call from Hammond, who is a jovial but aggressive old man. He complains of the EPA and learns from Dr. Grant about the lizard carcass discovery and Grant's opinion of what it is. Hammond acts strange on the phone and insists that Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler go to his island in Costa Rica for a well-paid, three day consultancy.
Chapter 7 Analysis
This cleverly named chapter makes the reader wonder if the focus is on the skeleton of the lizard/dinosaur or on some other kind of skeleton, perhaps one in Hammond's closet! While the experts ponder the existence of a modern-day dinosaur, the reader wants to shout to them that it exists, and that it is dangerous. At Hammond's insistence, Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler agree to go to Costa Rica, and the reader is able to see the direction the story will take.
Chapter 7 11 Chapter 8
Chapter 8 Summary
Cowan, Swain and Ross is an office of high-powered attorneys, and one of their clients is Hammond. In the meeting is Donald Gennaro, the lawyer affiliated with Hammond's file at the firm. Gennaro is instructed by his boss to telephone Grant and give a friendly welcome to the paleontologist on the upcoming trip.
Chapter 8 Analysis
The chapter serves a couple of functions: The first is to describe the characters who will be on the trip, including Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, Ian Malcolm (a Texas mathematician), and the lawyer Gennaro. The second function of the chapter is to give the story an added layer of suspense by creating the feeling that there could be a cover-up. The lawyers are unaware of what is going on at the Costa Rican island, but they are worried, and they don't trust in Hammond. Although they never refer to what is actually going on at the island, the reader is aware that the lawyers know the full story.
Chapter 8 12 Chapter 9
Chapter 9 Summary
Grant and Sattler receive architectural drawings from Hammond. The drawings are of the Costa Rican island and are confusing to the scientists at first. As they review the drawings, they realize that the island, which is supposed to be a Safari resort, is built with concrete bunkers, electric fences and giant moats. The structures are likened to wartime buildings and secure government installations. They put the plans down and go outside to finish the dig before they leave for the weekend. At the site, they finish the work on a velociraptor, and most of the remainder of the chapter is spent describing one of the most dangerous dinosaurs to have ever lived.
Chapter 9 Analysis
This brief chapter serves two functions: The first is to create suspense about what to expect at the Safari resort. Crichton uses a technique to make the fiction seem real. When Grant and Sattler receive the plans, the intricate details on the architectural drawings are described and include the names of the clients, the architects, the engineers, and all the other people who worked on the drawings. While the specific names are not important for the story, it adds detail that makes the story seen more authentic. The second function of this chapter is to educate the reader on what a velociraptor is and how dangerous it can be. The astute reader should expect to see a velociraptor later in the book, given the amount of space used to describe how dangerous it is.
Chapter 9 13 Chapter 10
Chapter 10 Summary
Gennaro is reluctant to go on the weekend trip, because he is missing his daughter's birthday. He finishes a conversation with his boss, Ross, who tells him that if the situation is bad, Gennaro is to "burn it to the ground." Gennaro boards Hammond's jet, and readers get their first glimpse at Hammond. He is a short, impish, elderly man, and Crichton describes him as almost childlike. He has a flair about him like a circus announcer, but he also has a devious side.
The chapter describes the early relationship between Gennaro and Hammond, as they went from potential investor to potential investor looking for venture capital years before this story takes place. Back then, Hammond had an elephant about the size of a cat, which he had hinted was bred through genetic engineering, but had really been raised naturally with hormonal modification. They used the tiny elephant as a show stopper to help raise money. After a brief reflection, the story returns to present day, and Gennaro and Hammond talk about "the animals" on the island. Hammond is pleased with Gennaro's surprise when the old man admits to having 238 animals, when Gennaro was under the assumption that he only had 15. Hammond then appeases Gennaro's concerns about rumors of construction delays and deaths.
Chapter 10 Analysis
The conversation between the lawyers sets up Gennaro's potential goal for the trip, as well as to show how far the legal firm will go to cut their losses with Hammond. Then, the reader meets Hammond. From the description of Hammond, and his silk handkerchief and reflection about his elephant, the images make him seem like he's from the circus: flamboyant, showy, entertaining, with a dangerous and devious streak. While the reader doesn't know exactly what to expect on Isla Nublar, they have some idea from reading the first iteration, and a sense of impending danger is
Chapter 10 14 heightened when the reader learns that Hammond has over 15 times the number of animals he's expected to have.
Chapter 10 15 Chapter 11
Chapter 11 Summary
This very short chapter describes the introduction between Gennaro and the paleontologists, Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler. They immediately dislike each other. Dr. Grant asks Hammond about what to expect on the island, and Hammond gives him an evasive answer.
Chapter 11 Analysis
Good stories have plenty of conflict, and this chapter serves to create some conflict between characters: Dr. Grant would rather be digging in the dirt than working with the lawyers and money men. Dr. Sattler finds Gennaro to be potentially sexist.
Chapter 11 16 Chapter 12
Chapter 12 Summary
In the boardroom of BioSyn Corp., a competing bioengineering company, the members discuss InGen Corp. and its work on Isla Nublar. In this chapter, the animals on the Safari Island are finally identified as dinosaurs. BioSyn Corp. decides to reverse engineer one of InGen's dinosaurs, in order to catch up to the huge scientific advancements achieved by InGen. The members at the meeting all agree to go ahead with the plan. In order to reverse engineer a dinosaur, BioSyn needs to find some DNA, and one of the people in the meeting has a contact inside InGen who can help them.
Chapter 12 Analysis
This chapter finally states the hypothesis that has been forming in the reader's mind since the beginning: Something is going on in Costa Rica that is dangerous, and that it involves lizards or something bigger. It also introduces a new conflict, and that is the conflict between the InGen Corp. and one of its employees, who is working in cahoots with BioSyn.
Chapter 12 17 Chapter 13
Chapter 13 Summary
In a coffee shop at the San Francisco airport, a man named Lewis Dodgson meets another man, whose name is not given in the chapter. Lewis, who is briefly introduced to the reader in a previous chapter, works for BioSyn. The unnamed man is an InGen employee. During a tense conversation in which they both try to maintain control over the other, the two men review that the unnamed InGen employee will be paid a lot of money for the delivery of dinosaur embryos off of Isla Nublar and ultimately to BioSyn. Dodgson gives the unnamed man a can of shaving cream and shows how it contains some shaving cream in the top for when they check his luggage, but it also contains coolant gas in the bottom in order for the InGen employee to smuggle out the embryos and transport them to the boat.
Chapter 13 Analysis
The chapter cleverly does not name the InGen employee, which gives a feeling of suspense, and can keep readers wondering for a while who the man might be. As far as characterization in this chapter, both men are unlikable, because they are both motivated by greed.
Chapter 13 18 Chapter 14
Chapter 14 Summary
Malcolm is an eccentric mathematician, who specializes in chaos theory. The entire chapter is devoted to describing Malcolm and his theories. He wears only black and gray and seems to be a rambling genius. He, too, was a consultant for InGen years earlier, and does not get along with Hammond, because of his analysis that Isla Nublar was doomed to fail. Malcolm says that while physics describes linear math that is easily predictable, like the path of an orbiting planet. His field of chaos theory seeks to find order in what most people see as chaos: like the weather or a mob of people. His conclusion about the Safari Island was that the animals would end up acting unpredictably.
Chapter 14 Analysis
Malcolm adds some color to the story by being an eccentric character. His expertise is established, and he serves an important function in the book, in that he describes difficult concepts it a way the reader can understand. As well, the tension is heightened when more conflict is added between Malcolm and Hammond.
Chapter 14 19 Chapter 15
Chapter 15 Summary
This chapter begins with a brief introduction of another character, Dennis Nedry. He joins the group as they all travel by helicopter from San Jose to the small island. The island is tropical and shrouded in fog, giving it an air of mystery. When the helicopter lands, Ed Regis, who the reader will remember from the prologue, greets them. The group begins their trek down the side of the mountain from the helicopter pad, toward the compound. In the last few sentences of the chapter, Grant sees a dinosaur.
Chapter 15 Analysis
Isla Nublar seems mysterious, because it is wreathed in fog. An exhilarating helicopter landing adds a brief element of danger. Ed Regis, who is associated in the reader's mind with a deadly cover up earlier in the book, appears as a friendly man here. Although it is talked about and hinted at throughout the book, this is the first time that anyone acknowledges seeing a real dinosaur. Prior to this, they are assumed to be lizards and hoaxes.
Chapter 15 20 Chapter 16
Chapter 16 Summary
Ellie sees the dinosaurs and can say very little; she is simply overwhelmed. Gennaro sees the dinosaurs, and his thought is, "We are going to make a fortune on this place." Grant's scientific mind analyzes what he is seeing as a brontosaur. As that chapter closes, they notice a sign that says, "Welcome to Jurassic Park."
Chapter 16 Analysis
This chapter juxtaposes Dr. Sattler's awe and wonder with Gennaro's greed. As Dr. Grant's thoughts are made known to the reader in order to educate the reader about what the group is observing. The chapter ends with an indication that the title of the book is a description of the place they are entering.
Chapter 16 21 Chapter 17
Chapter 17 Summary
Grant and Malcolm are discussing how Jurassic Park changes Dr. Grant's field of study. Their conversation draws to a close, as they wonder how Jurassic Park scientists found DNA to allow them to create real dinosaurs. They walk through a fence and get their first glimpse of the inside of the tourist compound, which looks beautiful, because it has been heavily planted to give it a prehistoric atmosphere. Dr. Sattler notices that many of the plants around the pool are poisonous. They are shown to their hotel rooms, and Dr. Grant looks around his room. One of the first thing he notices is that the TV has one channel for each of the dinosaur zones on the island, but their names are overly cute in a tourist kind of way. In fact, the whole room is being built to give the sense of a jungle safari. He and Dr. Sattler notice that the windows have been modified in size and strength. There are bars over the window. A fence encircling the lodge had not appeared on the architectural drawings.
Chapter 17 Analysis
The chapter begins by setting up a question in the reader's mind about how the scientists of Jurassic Park managed to find DNA that will allow them to create dinosaurs. Ultimately, the purpose of this chapter is to show contrasts. The first contrast is between the beauty of the pool and the poisonous plants that surround it, showing that the people who designed and decorated the park were not as careful as they should have been. The second contrast is between the jungle kitsch-like nature of the hotel room and the heavy security that seems to have been added as a measure of protection that was not initially planned for. Both contrasts show that Jurassic Park is a potentially dangerous place in spite of the planning that went into it.
Chapter 17 22 Chapter 18
Chapter 18 Summary
The group reassembles in the visitor building to begin the tour, and Malcolm upsets Hammond by making a suggestion that some of the dinosaurs have escaped from the island. Malcolm tries to point out the potentially dangerous error of what Jurassic Park is trying to accomplish. Hammond uses the defense that he is just trying to build another zoo, but Malcolm says that zoos take animals that already exist and modifies their environment, while Jurassic Park takes animals that haven't existed in millions of years and attempts to re-create their environment. He speaks about the strength of nature and restates his theory of the inability of the island to contain it. The chapter ends with the arrival of another helicopter. This one contains two children, who are Hammond's grandchildren.
Chapter 18 Analysis
While Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler are the primary heroes of the story, their interest in dinosaurs makes them neutral observers. Malcolm acts as a foil against Hammond. Hammond is blind to the danger, and Malcolm is blind to the possibility. This results in plenty of conflict. Malcolm's theory about the strength of nature will be repeated through the book as one of the central themes.
The chapters of danger and contrast leading up to this point have created an impending sense of danger for the reader, which is now heightened with the arrival of the children. Crichton mentions the divorce of their parents as an excuse for them to show up, but it accomplishes two other things: The reader's feelings for the children will be increased out of sympathy as more is told of the divorce in the following chapters, but also the children's arrival shows Hammonds blindness to the danger, in an effort to prove how safe his park is.
Chapter 18 23 Chapter 19
Chapter 19 Summary
The tour begins for the group. They are shown around the facility, beginning in the museum area. The children are further introduced as Tim, a boy of about 11, and his younger sister, Alexis. Their family life is not great. Tim is shown, through a flashback with his father, to be very bright and quite knowledgeable about dinosaurs. He recognizes Dr. Grant, because he owns the book Grant wrote for children about dinosaurs. The group enters the laboratory area and is taken through the process of how DNA is extracted from amber (petrified tree sap, which has captured and fossilized dinosaur-blood-sucking mosquitoes). They see how the DNA is processed, how dinosaurs are created, how their embryonic development is monitored in a hatchery. Finally, they meet a baby raptor in the nursery, where freshly hatched dinosaurs are nurtured. Their host, Dr. Wu, describes many of the scientific advancements that have allowed him to create dinosaurs and to control them. He talks about using two methods to ensure that the dinosaurs cannot breed on their own: He ensures that all dinosaurs created in his lab are female, and he uses radiation to sterilize them.
Chapter 19 Analysis
This chapter quickly educates the reader in the science of genetic engineering and the step-by-step process used by the lab to create dinosaurs. If this chapter fails, the book fails, because the reader will not buy into the concept that dinosaurs can be created. Without becoming boring, the science mentioned in the chapter gives the book an air of authenticity, which suggests it could happen. The reader is again exposed to Malcolm's skepticism that this grand project could succeed. The chapter ends with a contrast between Dr. Grant and Tim. Even though they are both passionate about dinosaurs, Dr. Grant shows that he is purely there for scientific purposes, while Tim has a child's fascination with the prehistoric creatures.
Chapter 19 24 Chapter 20
Chapter 20 Summary
Dr. Wu and Malcolm talk at length about the number of animals on the island and their differing opinions on the likelihood of one escaping. Dr. Wu explains why they created so many small procompsognathus. They needed to deal with the large amount of dinosaur excrement on the island, and those specific dinosaurs eat it. Dr. Wu also mentions another safety measure he built into the dinosaurs, and that is to make them reliant on their Jurassic Park food supply for a specific enzyme, which they would not get if they left the island, resulting in their death. They are about to enter the control room, which monitors and manages the entire park, but find that a docking ship occupies most people in the room. They decide to look at the raptor pen and come back later. Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, Malcolm and the kids go to the raptor pen. They see one raptor, who just stares at them. Suddenly, other raptors attack from the side, but are stopped by the electric fence. The raptors are shown to be fast, smart and potentially lethal.
Chapter 20 Analysis
This is the first of several chapters in the book entitled "Control." While this chapter shows that the visitors are kept safe from the lethal raptors, and that all the dinosaurs are reliant on Jurassic Park, readers should watch for the following "Control" chapters to grow increasingly ironic in their title. Readers are also introduced to the raptor and its intelligent and sadistic capabilities.
Chapter 20 25 Chapter 21
Chapter 21 Summary
Dr. Wu and Hammond are meeting in the owner's Jurassic Park bungalow. Dr. Wu tries to convince Hammond that they need to begin phasing in a new version of dinosaurs, version 4 .4. Dr. Wu reasons that they have created excellent replicas of real dinosaurs, but admits that they are not what anybody expected. Since they are going to be a theme park, he wants to create dinosaurs that are in line with what people think dinosaurs should be like. They speak of their early efforts at how building the facility was an exercise in guessing what the animals would be like. It proved to be inadequate, because all of their safety equipment is too slow. Their tasers, cattle prods and electric nets are insufficient, and they think what they really need are laser-guided missiles to do an adequate job.
Hammond reiterates that all he wants is an authentic zoo of real dinosaurs. Dr. Wu reflects on his time with Hammond and his company, and recalls the early days when he first started working for InGen. The chapter closes with Hammond, putting his foot down to insist that they maintain the current version of real dinosaurs.
Chapter 21 Analysis
The reader gets a glimpse into the mind and world of Hammond. It seems like a noble enterprise, but Dr. Wu's thinking provides a legitimate contrast to the idea. The theme from a few chapters earlier, that the park might be inadequate to contain the animals and maintain the safety of the visitors, is reiterated again with a discussion of the dinosaurs being too fast for their current safety equipment. There are hints at other dangers lurking.
Chapter 21 26 Chapter 22
Chapter 22 Summary
The guests are brought to the control room, where they are introduced to the many ways that the dinosaurs are monitored. There are two independent and highly computerized ways that the computer monitors the dinosaur population. The control room is a place where safety and security is constantly reinforced. Malcolm, who does not always reveal what he is thinking, asks to see a graph of the height distribution of the procompsognathid population. The graph shows a typical bell curve, and Malcolm, the mathematician, points out that the curve indicates normal population growth, not laboratory manufactured population growth. Dr. Grant asks for a little more detail from Malcolm, but the mathematician promises that the tour will make everything clear.
Chapter 22 Analysis
Once again, the title of the chapter serves to demonstrate the control that people think they have over Jurassic Park. The computerized monitoring systems give the illusion of safety. The last paragraph shows that Malcolm has his doubts about the perceived control over the dinosaurs, and his promise to Grant about how the tour will clarify his point is more accurate than he realizes.
Chapter 22 27 Chapter 23
Chapter 23 Summary
The tour of the park itself begins. The group gets into electric vehicles that are computer guided and state-of-the-art. Gennaro and Malcolm argue in the first car as the tour proceeds to the first zone of dinosaurs.
Chapter 23 Analysis
The tension between Malcolm and Gennaro is heightened, but most of the chapter is focused on the idea that the park has spared no expense in its construction.
Chapter 23 28 Chapter 24
Chapter 24 Summary
Back in the control room, everyone is watching how Jurassic Park's first tour is progressing. Their tense conversation surrounds the problems that Jurassic Park still has to work out: challenges with caring for the dinosaurs, innumerable computer problems, glitches in automated systems. The second half of the chapter goes back to the tour, as they drive by a poisonous dinosaur and a very docile Triceratops. Then, they head towards the Tyrannosaurus rex zone.
Chapter 24 Analysis
With the visitors out of the way, the readers discover the many problems and challenges that Jurassic Park has to overcome before they can open to the public. With the amount of tension and impending danger already building, the reader can easily see how these problems will compound the situation. The control room really has very little control, and this chapter stands in contrast to the previous chapters, which cite that there is plenty of control, and no expense has been spared.
Chapter 24 29 Chapter 25
Chapter 25 Summary
The caravan of computerized cars has stopped at the Tyrannosaurus rex zone. Now, the visitors are looking for the dinosaur. Back in the control room, Hammond eagerly awaits their reaction, while a brief description of Muldoon's background shows him to be an expert in working with animals, but not necessarily with dinosaurs. His thoughts are on the velociraptor, which he feels is a ruthless animal that kills for the pleasure of killing. On the tour, a goat is offered to the Tyrannosaurus rex, who kills and eats it in front of them.
Chapter 25 Analysis
The potential danger of the raptor is increased, as the reader learns more about how deadly the dinosaur can be.
Chapter 25 30 Chapter 26
Chapter 26 Summary
In the control room, Hammond, Dr. Wu and Arnold are convinced of the infallibility of the park and angry at Malcolm, whose criticisms they can hear over the radio. On the tour, Tim is convinced he sees a raptor in a zone that should not contain one, but his sighting is quickly dismissed as being a mistake. Back in the control room, the ship that had docked earlier requests to leave, so that the impending storm does not push the ship against the dock and damage it.
Chapter 26 Analysis
This chapter compares the blind ambition of those in the control room, with the critical expertise of those on the tour. While the ship's desire to leave may not seem important in this chapter, it will be important shortly.
Chapter 26 31 Chapter 27
Chapter 27 Summary
The team comes up to the Stegosaur compound, where the Jurassic Park veterinarian, Dr. Harding, is tending to the sick dinosaur. He says the Stegosaur is exhibiting signs of illness, and perhaps poisoning, every six weeks. Dr. Sattler believes that the dinosaur is eating poisonous berries, but cannot find proof of it. Malcolm and Gennaro talk about the park, and Malcolm summarizes his negative theories for the lawyer, by saying that life is unpredictable and breaks beyond the barriers. Dr. Grant finds something that he believes to be a broken velociraptor eggshell, which should be impossible in a single gender island.
Chapter 27 Analysis
Set in contrast to the previous chapters that talked about control, this chapter shows that the scientists have very little control over the park. They cannot figure out why the dinosaurs are sick. Malcolm's conversation with Gennaro is one of the key themes in this book. If this book was a factual essay, Malcolm's speech would be the thesis. Almost as if proving Malcolm's point, Dr. Grant makes a discovery that should chill the readers: The most vicious animal has been breeding.
Chapter 27 32 Chapter 28
Chapter 28 Summary
Hammond does not believe Dr. Grant's discovery. The control room and the computerized cars are able to communicate and share information via the computer screens. They review one of the dinosaur counting systems used to monitor the dinosaur population. The control room shows that the park has only 238 dinosaurs in it, as expected. Malcolm asks them to change the system, slightly, so that the expected number of dinosaurs is not 238 but 239. They make the adjustment and are surprised to discover that the computer now shows there are 239 dinosaurs in the park. They run the test again, looking for 300, and it comes back with 292 dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.
Malcolm points out that it is not a computer glitch, but simply that the computer is searching for the expected number of dinosaurs. The program was designed to alert them to missing dinosaurs, but not to account for extra dinosaurs. Then, Malcolm has them transmit to him the population graph of the procompsognathids, which he had looked at in a previous chapter. He explains to them that the Bell curve is the result of a natural growth in the population, whereas a manufactured species released into the wild in a way that these dinosaurs were should result in a different graph with three smaller curves. They are able to determine that seven species of dinosaurs are breeding.
Chapter 28 Analysis
This chapter's title is the height of irony in this iteration. The alternating chapters entitled "Control" demonstrate increasingly less control over the dinosaur population. Malcolm's function in this chapter is to quickly analyze their numbers and the flaws in their system to bring to light their lack of control.
Chapter 28 33 Chapter 29
Chapter 29 Summary
Dr. Grant, Malcolm and the children head back toward the compound, while Dr. Sattler remains with Dr. Harding and Gennaro to care for the sick dinosaur. As they drive away, the children look through the binoculars and see that there are raptors on the ship that has left port and is headed for the mainland. They try to alert the control room, but cannot get through, because of interference, which they conclude is from the storm that is almost upon them. Dennis Nedry breaks into the laboratory and steals the embryos. The power goes out, and the people in the control room realize the electric fences, that keep the dinosaurs separate from the visitors, are no longer electrified. Muldoon goes down to the parking garage to get a Jeep to check on the tour group, but discovers that the Jeep is missing.
Chapter 29 Analysis
The last chapter of this iteration builds up the tension so the reader returns to find what happened. The insider, who is supposed to steal the embryos for BioSyn, is revealed as the person who has the most control over the park. A possible answer to the question, "how can dinosaurs get off the island?" is answered when the children see raptors on the ship. The reader will have to read the following iterations to find answers to the questions that are stacked up in this chapter.
Chapter 29 34 Chapter 30
Chapter 30 Summary
The computerized SUVs are stopped on the road, waiting for the electricity to be turned back on. They are idly passing the time, when someone sees a large shadow pass quickly across the road between the two cars. Everyone is frantic, but sees nothing. Alexis is getting scared. Tim, who has the night vision goggles on, is asked by Dr. Grant if he sees anything. He responds that he sees the Tyrannosaurus rex, but the dinosaur doesn't appear to be doing anything. They relax for a moment. Then, Ed Regis notices that the Tyrannosaurus rex is gripping the fence, which is no longer electrified. Scared and embarrassed at having just urinated in his pants, Regis jumps out of the car and runs into the woods, leaving Hammond's grandchildren alone in the first vehicle. Tim tells Dr. Grant that the fence is no longer electrified, so Dr. Grant radios back, instructing the children to just stay in the car and stay quiet.
The dinosaur crashes through the fence and attacks the car the children are in. They are thrown about inside, like rag dolls. They're hurt, but not seriously. The Tyrannosaurus rex gets cut from the sharp metal of the car and kicks it away. Dr. Grant and Malcolm, in the second card, don't realize that the car has disappeared, because the dinosaur blocks their view. As soon as they realize the car is missing, they jump out of their own car and the Tyrannosaurus rex gets Malcolm with its snout, tossing him through the air. It turns to Dr. Grant, who freezes on the spot. As he watches the dinosaur snort around, he realizes that it can only see motion. He remains immobile and safe, even though he's only inches away from the dinosaur. Confused and frustrated, the dinosaur smashes the car Grant is standing beside, knocking the scientist into the air.
Chapter 30 Analysis
Chapter 30 35 The fourth iteration starts off with an exciting encounter with the Tyrannosaurus rex. Each member of the group reacts differently to the dinosaur: Tim and Dr. Grant watch it with fascination; Alexis has a typical child's reaction to the frightening creature; Ed Regis shows himself to be a coward; and Malcolm reiterates his belief that extinct animals should stay extinct. The sense of danger is immediate, ongoing; and heightened by the storm, lightning and presence of children so close to danger.
Chapter 30 36 Chapter 31
Chapter 31 Summary
This "meanwhile" chapter covers what else is happening on the island at the same time the Tyrannosaurus rex is attacking the first group. Harding, Sattler and Gennaro are racing back through the storm, but get stopped at a fallen tree. They can't raise anybody on the radio. So, they turn around and head back the way they came in order to take another route. In the control room, the monitors have all gone down from the lightning, and there is concern that the lightning could destroy the computer system. No one has been able to find Nedry, and they know that they are relying on him to get the system back up.
Chapter 31 Analysis
The reader's main interest will obviously be with the children, Dr. Grant and Malcolm, but it is important to keep tabs on where everyone else is in order to keep the story moving forward.
Chapter 31 37 Chapter 32
Chapter 32 Summary
Nedry opens an electrified fence with his bare hands, knowing that the power had been turned off, and he races in the Jeep toward the dock to meet the boat and pass off the stolen embryos. Racing against time so his absence would not be missed, he nearly smashes into a barrier and realizes that he must have driven past the turnoff to the dock. He tries to regain his bearings, but he realizes he is lost and will have to abandon his plan to smuggle the embryos off the island. As he returns to the Jeep, he comes face-to-face with a dinosaur. For a brief moment, they stare each other. Then, a dinosaur spits at him, and the spit hits him in the chest. He barely notices, because his shirt is soaked in the rain. Then, the dinosaur spits again, and the spit hits him in the neck. He wipes it away, but feels a burning sensation and realizes the spit is acidic. Then, the dinosaur spits in his face, and he goes blind. The chapter ends with a graphic scene of his agonizing death, in which he blindly catches his own intestines when they are cut out of him. Then, he feels his head in the jaws of the dinosaur.
Chapter 32 Analysis
In the previous chapter, the characters in the control room are wondering where Nedry is. Even though no one respects him, and the reader knows about his ulterior motives, everyone realizes that he is the only one with access to the computers and the ability to get the control back to the control room quickly and knowledgably.
Chapter 32 38 Chapter 33
Chapter 33 Summary
Dr. Wu and Hammond sit in the rich old man's bungalow eating dinner. They eat ice cream and coffee and seem oblivious to the problems going on in the park. Inwardly, Dr. Wu is concerned about Hammond: He fears the old man is not completely stable. Hammond had spent most of the evening swaying between emotions, and now, as he and Dr. Wu speak, he talks about his desire to make money rather than to help humankind with the genetic discoveries his company patented. Meanwhile, out in the park, Dr. Harding and Dr. Sattler are still racing back to the tourist compound. Lumbering dinosaurs that take their time crossing the road stop them, and then they are able to continue on for a little while longer. Before long, though, they come screeching to a halt again. This time, they stop for the scavenger dinosaur that first appeared at the beginning of the book. Dr. Harding tells Dr. Sattler that these small dinosaurs are attracted to dying animals because of the potential for food. They decide to follow the small dinosaurs to see what animal is dead or dying.
Chapter 33 Analysis
After reading about the chaos surrounding the first group's interaction with the Tyrannosaurus rex, then the tension in the control room and the gruesome story of Nedry's death, the dinner at Hammond's bungalow stands in sharp contrast. While his grandchildren are fighting for their lives, the rambling old man eats specialty ice cream and talks about his desire to make money. The reader learns a lot about Hammond's true motivation. Tensions rise for the reader, as Dr. Harding and Dr. Sattler decide to follow the scavenging dinosaurs to discover what animal is dead or dying. After reading the previous few chapters, one can only imagine what they will come upon.
Chapter 33 39 Chapter 34
Chapter 34 Summary
Tim wakes up to find himself still in the Toyota Land Cruiser. However, it is 20 feet high in a tree. He wiggles out of the wrecked vehicle and begins to climb down the tree, only to have it crashed down after him. When he finally gets to the ground, he moves out of the way just in time for the vehicle to crash down where he had just been. Meanwhile, in the lab, Dr. Wu checks on a DNA question that he and Dr. Grant had been talking about earlier; about how some of the dinosaurs, whose original DNA was not complete, had been mixed with frog DNA. Although he does not come to a conclusion in this chapter, Dr. Wu discovers that the dinosaurs that are breeding are the ones who have frog DNA incorporated into their DNA structure.
Chapter 34 Analysis
Tension is raised, in this exciting scene of escape, from a vehicle that is high up in a tree. After narrowly escaping death, the young boy discovers that he is alone. Meanwhile, Dr. Wu finds a clue that may help them discover the reason why the dinosaurs seem to be breeding.
Chapter 34 40 Chapter 35
Chapter 35 Summary
Lex is hiding in a drainage pipe and scared out of her little mind. Her brother tries to calm her down, but is unsuccessful. Not until Dr. Grant shows up does she come out of the pipe. Dr. Grant checks to make sure both the children are okay, and aside from some minor injuries, they seem fine. Ed Regis, who had ran before the first attack, comes out of a nearby hiding space and starts walking. Dr. Grant and the children see Regis and are about to meet up with him, when they witness an attack by the smaller Tyrannosaurus rex. This eight-foot dinosaur toys with Ed Regis before killing him. Dr. Grant and the children start to run.
Chapter 35 Analysis
The tension is momentarily abated, as the reader discovers that Tim is not alone, and his sister and Dr. Grant are both okay. It quickly returns, though, with the gruesome slaughter of Ed Regis. The reader is reminded that Dr. Grant and the children are the only ones who know that there are raptors aboard the ship headed to the mainland, so there is a necessity for them to return to the tourist compound, rather than wait somewhere safe for help.
Chapter 35 41 Chapter 36
Chapter 36 Summary
Dr. Harding and Dr. Sattler are still following the scavenging dinosaurs toward the dead animal. The walkie-talkie crackles, and they have a difficult, garbled conversation with Arnold from the control room, who is able to eventually tell them to return right away because of an emergency. They do so, not knowing what the emergency is and forgetting about their initial quest. Meanwhile, in the control room, Hammond is exploding with rage over concern for his grandchildren and a lack of control that anyone has over the park right now.
Chapter 36 Analysis
Again, this chapter is ironically entitled, for no one has any control. Any sense of possible rescue for Dr. Grant and the children by Dr. Harding and Dr. Sattler is now gone, as they return to the tourist compound. A paragraph of unintelligible computer code further lends an air of authenticity to the book. Even though the reader will not understand what any of it means, it looks quite technical and helps move the book from the realm of a made-up story into the realm of reality.
Chapter 36 42 Chapter 37
Chapter 37 Summary
Muldoon and Gennaro are racing through the night. They find one of Ed Regis's legs and realize how grim the situation could be. They continue on for a short time and find the two smashed cars, but Muldoon is able to determine that they must still be alive: His sleuthing reveals a watch that had been removed and three sets of footprints that lead off into the jungle. They also find Malcolm, who's been missing for quite some time with a severe leg injury. Although they want to search for Dr. Grant and the children, they realize that Malcolm needs to get medical attention quickly or will die. They return with him to the tourist compound.
Chapter 37 Analysis
Malcolm finally reappears after being missing for quite some time. As the sole voice against the park, his words now seem to be the most logical and accurate. Tension about the safety of the children is raised even further when the reader reads Muldoon's thoughts, and he admits that predator animals prefer children.
Chapter 37 43 Chapter 38
Chapter 38 Summary
In the tourist compound, Hammond and his lawyer consider the situation. Hammond decides that his grandchildren are safe and will return shortly. In the control room, Dr. Wu and Arnold uncover some of the problems with the computer system and how Nedry was involved in bringing them down. Dr. Sattler learns that Dr. Grant and the children are still in the park.
Chapter 38 Analysis
This chapter shows some of the characters are finally starting to gain back some of the control that had been lost. Specifically, Arnold in the control room is able to determine the role Nedry played in shutting the system down.
Chapter 38 44 Chapter 39
Chapter 39 Summary
The reader follows Dr. Grant and the children, as they cross through the perilous Tyrannosaurus rex paddock. At first, they are lost, but discover that they can follow the numbered motion sensors. This gives them some sense of direction. Along the way, Tim talks about his parent's divorce, and he asks Dr. Grant about Dr. Sattler. Dr. Grant tells Tim that Dr. Sattler is not his girlfriend, but his student. She is to marry someone else. They leave the Tyrannosaurus rex paddock and come to another paddock, where they find a small outbuilding with hay. Exhausted, they curl up and fall asleep.
Chapter 39 Analysis
Although they are walking through the Tyrannosaurus rex compound, this chapter shows the beginning of the characters' movement toward the turning point; that is, their attempts to regain control of the situation. Along the way, the reader learns more about the characters.
Chapter 39 45 Chapter 40
Chapter 40 Summary
Power is finally restored, and they can get some control back. They identify the three areas where fences have been knocked down, and they run an animal check with the motion sensors to begin taking a tally of all the animals in the park and to see where Dr. Grant and the children are. The numbers do not tell them anything at first, because several dinosaurs are missing, as are Dr. Grant and the children. Arnold says this is possible, because they could be out of range of the motion detectors. They could also be very still, perhaps sleeping. Meanwhile, in the hotel area, Dr. Sattler and Gennaro talk to Malcolm about his experience. Although the Tyrannosaurus rex bit him, he managed to live through the ordeal. This is the second chapter that mentions the "Malcolm Effect," although it does not describe what it is.
Chapter 40 Analysis
Again, control is returning to the control room. The reader feels somewhat relieved that technology has been restored in order to allow Dr. Grant and the children to be saved. The reader is left wondering what the "Malcolm Effect" is.
Chapter 40 46 Chapter 41
Chapter 41 Summary
This chapter follows the efforts of several teams, as they attempt to regain control of the park. Muldoon inspects a broken section of the fence and prepares to repair it. In the control room, Arnold and Gennaro talk about what the "Malcolm Effect" is: that a computer model system of the behavior of living things has a speeding up movement, and this movement is what will make Jurassic Park unstable and doomed to fail. Hammond and Dr. Harding work at moving one of the dinosaurs, which has been tranquilized. Hammond shows a lot of concern for his dinosaurs, perhaps even more than for his grandchildren. The chapter ends with a tense conversation between Hammond and Dr. Harding, in which Dr. Harding accuses Hammond of not bothering to properly equip the park with effective measures to stop the adult Tyrannosaurus rex. Hammond is quick to blame others, but the end result is that there is an adult Tyrannosaurus rex on the loose in the park, and they are not properly equipped to stop it.
Chapter 41 Analysis
This chapter explains what has been suggested in previous chapters- the "Malcolm Effect," which theorizes that the park is doomed to fail. The conversation between Hammond and Dr. Harding demonstrates that Jurassic Park has not regained as much control as initially assumed.
Chapter 41 47 Chapter 42
Chapter 42 Summary
Dr. Grant wakes up with the children in the shed. The children are amusing themselves by feeding a Triceratops, and they decide to leave and see if the motion detectors are working. Meanwhile, in the control room, everyone is hard at work trying to figure out why the telephones still do not function. Although they cannot trace the source, the telephones cannot be used. They decide to completely shut down and restart the entire system, which takes a few minutes. When the computer does come back online, they see a commotion in the duckbill paddock: a stampede of duckbills. Dr. Grant and the children are trapped in that stampede, as the duckbills run away from a Tyrannosaurus rex.
Chapter 42 Analysis
In the beginning of the chapter, a brief moment of playfulness puts the reader at ease, giving them the sense that everything is going to be all right. Problems still lurk in the park though, with the telephones and the rampaging Tyrannosaurus rex. Once again, a small chart is used to help lend an air of authenticity to the book.
Chapter 42 48 Chapter 43
Chapter 43 Summary
Back in the park, Dr. Grant and the children are hiding in a tree. After, they are rested and determine that it is safe enough to go. They start walking. They see a shed that they think may contain a raft, which will allow them to make it back to the tourist compound more quickly. They gather the oars and life jackets, and then they notice the Tyrannosaurus rex sleeping near a dinosaur carcass by the side of the river. They move quietly and quickly into the raft and start to row away, but Lex coughs several times and then gets into a shouting match with Tim, which wakes the dinosaur. It gives chase. The Tyrannosaurus rex comes upon them quickly in the river, because even though the river is deep, the adult dinosaur is very tall. It attacks the raft and is just about to destroy it when it sees the younger Tyrannosaurus rex eating the carcass beside the river. The adult Tyrannosaurus rex leaves the raft to defend its kill.
Chapter 43 Analysis
The last chapter of this iteration brings some conclusion to the tension that has been mounting, but the reader is drawn to read on, since they aren't out of danger yet.
Chapter 43 49 Chapter 44
Chapter 44 Summary
Gennaro and Muldoon are tracking the Tyrannosaurus rex. They come upon some remains of another dinosaur, when they get a call from Arnold saying they found Nedry. They follow Arnold's directions to Nedry's body, which is being consumed by the procompsognathids. They find the canisters Nedry had stolen and leave his body for the scavengers. Dr. Grant and the children are floating down the river, and Dr. Grant listens impatiently to the children, who are bickering like siblings do. They come upon the aviary. Meanwhile, Muldoon and Arnold bicker over the radios about the location of the Tyrannosaurus rex: It is nowhere to be found.
Chapter 44 Analysis
The first chapter of this iteration shows that loose ends are beginning to get tied up. Nedry's greedy plot has been uncovered, his whereabouts discovered, and the canisters returned. Dr. Grant and the children, while not yet out of harm's way, are able to move quickly and safely through the river toward structures and the potential of reaching civilization.
Chapter 44 50 Chapter 45
Chapter 45 Summary
The last chapter closed with Dr. Grant and the children moving toward the aviary to find help. This chapter opens with Arnold and Malcolm talking about the aviary. It was built to house flying dinosaurs, but they found they had so many problems with those dinosaurs, because they are very territorial, and so dangerous to anyone who is nearby that the builders never completed it. The focus in the chapter turns to Dr. Grant and the children, who discover exactly what Arnold and Malcolm were just talking about. The flying dinosaurs attack them. Although they are not seriously wounded, Alexis' ball glove is ripped from her hands, and Dr. Grant has a terrifying encounter as he wrestles with one of the giant flying dinosaurs.
They return to the raft and continue to float down the river, having found the aviary cannot offer them any hope of rescue. On the river, Tim asks Dr. Grant about the frog DNA and its significance to Jurassic Park. Dr. Grant begins to explain that irradiation is not a reliable method of sterilization, and that there is wide variety in reproduction methods in the animal kingdom. Before he gets a chance to explain anymore, they are startled by the shrieking of the Tyrannosaurus rex, who is caught in the trees nearby. The dinosaur seems intent on attacking their boat, but cannot get through the dense forest. They relax for a moment, thinking they are safe.
Back at the tourist compound, Dr. Sattler and Malcolm talk more about Malcolm's mathematical-philosophical opinions about life. He asserts that scientific advancement through the ages has not really advanced anything at all, but is more about personal accomplishment for the scientist. Back on the river, Dr. Grant and the children have just gotten over their scare of the Tyrannosaurus rex, when they discover that a hooting noise they've been hearing is coming from two of the poisonous dinosaurs, which are just downstream from them. The dinosaurs are in a mating ritual, and Dr. Grant and the children are concerned that if they interrupt it, they could be killed.
Chapter 45 51 They are out of options, but the thrashing Tyrannosaurus rex distracts the poisonous dinosaurs long enough for the raft to slip by unseen.
Chapter 45 Analysis
Malcolm continues to be the sole voice of philosophical reason, speaking out against Jurassic Park. Meanwhile, Dr. Grant and the children face danger after danger in their quest to get back to civilization for their own safety and to alert others about the danger headed to the mainland on the boat.
Chapter 45 52 Chapter 46
Chapter 46 Summary
Muldoon and Gennaro drive around the park looking for the Tyrannosaurus rex. Arnold radios them and tells him that he's finally found it, skulking around the edge of the motion detectors' field of vision. As they drive toward it, Arnold tells them to be gentle with the Tyrannosaurus rex, since it will be the primary tourist attraction. Muldoon and the lawyer, of course, do not share his optimistic view of the future of the park and decide to do whatever they can to stop the Tyrannosaurus rex. They drive up close to the animal, who is still thrashing among the trees by the river, and Muldoon fires two shots of tranquilizer into the Tyrannosaurus rex. The dinosaur gives chase to the two men, who barely escape in the Jeep, but it gives up the chase when it becomes distracted by something else.
Nearby, Dr. Grant and the children are in the raft. They notice that the current is beginning to pick up, and before long, they discover that they are headed directly toward a waterfall. Dr. Grant does his best to row the boat against the current toward shore, but fails. As a last resort, he jams the paddle into the ground just in front of the boat, which is precariously close to the edge of a waterfall. They look down and notice that the Tyrannosaurus rex is standing at the bottom of the waterfall, waiting for them. The current spins the boat around, and the paleontologist and the children fall.
Miraculously, they make it to shore undetected but see that there is nowhere to run for cover. Then, the dinosaur notices them. At the last moment, they run behind a waterfall and find a maintenance door. Dr. Grant goes through the door into the dark room, but the children, who are scared to follow, get locked outside by the automatic closing door. Inside the room, Dr. Grant finds a flashlight, turns it on and discovers a golf cart in a long tunnel, which spells certain freedom. Just then, he is knocked on his back by a raptor. Quickly, he tranquilizes the raptor and discovers it to be a juvenile male, proving that they are born in the wild. Outside of the door, but hidden by the
Chapter 46 53 waterfall, the children wait for Dr. Grant. The Tyrannosaurus rex sticks its head through the waterfall. Fortunately for the children, the dinosaur can only stick its snout through and cannot see through the thick curtain of water. Using its tongue, it licks the surface of the ledge behind the waterfall, searching for the children. It grabs hold of Tim. It is just about to pull the young boy into its jaws, when it bites down on its own tongue and fades from view.
Chapter 46 Analysis
Arnold, acting as the antithesis of Malcolm, portrays his true nature and belief that the dinosaur problem is simply a minor problem. Dr. Grant and the children, who the reader is desperate to see return to safety, face yet another group of life-threatening obstacles. At every turn, it seems that they are just about to reach safety when, in fact, they meet an even more dangerous situation. While the Tyrannosaurus rex is often described as the most dangerous of the dinosaurs in the park, the raptor, a menacing foe whose danger is continually hinted at throughout the book, is now shown to be an uncontrolled species.
Chapter 46 54 Chapter 47
Chapter 47 Summary
Arnold turns to Gennaro and assures him that they now have everything under control. No sooner is that confident statement out of his mouth than his computer screens are flashing that auxiliary power is low. They investigate and discover that a safety measure built into the computer system kept the main power offline, when they had rebooted the system earlier in the day. That means they had been running on auxiliary power for the entire day, and now it was completely drained. With that, they realize the electric fences have not had power all day long, which means the raptors are probably loose. In spite of Hammond's whining, Muldoon, Arnold and Gennaro arm themselves with weapons and head out to deal with the raptors. They manage to kill one and wound another. Muldoon takes cover. Arnold ducks into a shed and gets killed. Gennaro follows Arnold and gets attacked. Dr. Wu offers to take a Jeep over to Muldoon to save him. The chapter ends with a long monologue from Malcolm about the danger of science and the unpredictability of life.
Chapter 47 Analysis
Once again, the chapter is ironically entitled "Control." Just as they seem to be getting things under control, that's when they lose control. Malcolm says that this is exactly what his theory predicted. On the other hand, they seem to no longer be running around scared for their lives, but the people in the command room, with the exception of Hammond, are finally unified in an attempt to fight back for control. Malcolm raises the tension as this iteration closes, as he asserts his belief that no one will get off the island alive.
Chapter 47 55 Chapter 48
Chapter 48 Summary
Dr. Grant and the children are in the golf cart they had found in the previous iteration, and they are racing through the underground tunnel. They are relieved to come up into the light, very close to the tourist compound. They enter the visitor center and find it in shambles. Nearby is the body of a guard, and they pick up his radio and are now able to communicate and discover that the survivors are in the lodge, because the raptors have invaded nearly everywhere else. There's not much time left, because the raptors are able to bite through the steel bars that cover the lodge windows. The steel bars are currently not electrified, since the power is off.
They decide the best course of action is for Dr. Grant to run out to the maintenance shed and start up the generator. He leaves the children in the kitchen and heads outside. In the kitchen, the children are exploring for food when they encounter a raptor. They entice it into the fridge, locking it inside. Dr. Sattler realizes that Dr. Grant will not get to the generator on time to electrify the security bars before the raptors chew through them. She and Muldoon try to distract the raptors in order to delay them, but succeed only in foiling the attack of three other raptors, trapping them behind a fence. Finally, the original two raptors she was intending to distract give chase, which she barely escapes, but successfully delays their entrance to the lodge. Dr. Grant is able to find the generator and turn it on and meets up with Gennaro, who has been hiding. The children run from the visitor center kitchen to the control room and are able to start turning on the computer system. They work furiously to get the system online, as the raptors almost completely chew their way into the lodge.
Chapter 48 Analysis
As the reader begins the first few sections of this iteration, they are relieved to see that Dr. Grant and the children are safe and expect their joyous return to the tourist
Chapter 48 56 compound to be a happy reunion with their friends, and for the story to quickly wind up. It doesn't take long for the readers' expectations to be dashed, as Dr. Grant and the children discover that the intelligent raptors have attacked the tourist compound and trapped the survivors. There's only a small handful left, and their fate looks bleak as the raptors are almost upon them. Dr. Grant and the children, who have come so far, seem to be the only ones capable of overcoming the dinosaurs and doing the job the others were unable to do.
Chapter 48 57 Chapter 49
Chapter 49 Summary
Tension rises for the children, as they do their best to figure out the computer system. Unfortunately, there is no one available who knows their way through the computer system, since Arnold and Dr. Wu have both been killed recently. In the lodge, the raptors are almost through and the terrified inhabitants can only radio Tim with encouragement, but little practical help. The children hear movement outside the door, and when they open the door, they see two raptors walking around the hallway. They accidentally get locked out of the control room, but they find a security pass and duck into another room. The raptors give chase.
Chapter 49 Analysis
The feeling of tension and frustration mounts, as there is no experienced person on the island who is capable of powering up the system. The only person who is able to even access the computer is an 11-year-old boy. Everyone else is trapped and expecting certain doom. All their hopes are pinned on the boy who suddenly gets pulled away from his task, as he tries to escape an attacking raptor. Approaching the height of the climax in any good book, the reader should be forced to ask, "How can the heroes possibly get out of this situation?" This chapter succeeds in answering this question.
Chapter 49 58 Chapter 50
Chapter 50 Summary
Even in the moment of danger, seemingly at the end of their lives, Malcolm continues to lecture Hammond on the futility of the Jurassic Park endeavor. Tim and Lex find that they have run into the nursery and come across a baby raptor. They try to use it as a distraction, since the raptors have followed them into the nursery through the open door. Hoping that the raptors will be momentarily distracted, they watch in horror as the adult raptors tear apart the baby raptor. Hammond's grandchildren back into another room, which turns out to be the laboratory. They are met by a Dr. Grant and Gennaro.
The heroic Dr. Grant instructs Gennaro and the children to leave, but they accidentally get trapped in a room with no exit and can only watch Dr. Grant face off against three raptors. The dinosaurs stalk him further into the laboratory, where he hides for a moment and injects potent poison into dinosaur eggs, which he rolls across the floor. The eggs are eaten by two of the three raptors, who die almost immediately. The third raptor won't fall for the same trick, so Dr. Grant leaves his radio on the floor and asks Dr. Sattler to talk through it. That trick distracts the third raptor, who he injects directly with poison.
Chapter 50 Analysis
The tables are beginning to turn, and the reader, who in the previous chapter was feeling frustration at the impotence of the characters, can now find hope as Dr. Grant's heroics and quick thinking are beginning to turn the tide.
Chapter 50 59 Chapter 51
Chapter 51 Summary
The children, Dr. Grant and Gennaro fumble their way into the computer system and manage to turn the power back on, saving the people in the lodge. They are also able to get in contact with the ship and alert it of the danger aboard.
Chapter 51 Analysis
For the first time since the first iteration, the title of this chapter seems appropriate. They finally do get back control. While all is not resolved yet, the reader feels momentarily assured of the safety of the people they have come to know through the book.
Chapter 51 60 Chapter 52
Chapter 52 Summary
Malcolm and Hammond have a fairly calm interaction that could be considered a showdown between the philosophical intellectual and the greedy entrepreneur. Hammond expresses relief that the world was not destroyed by being overrun with dinosaurs. Malcolm, in his typical philosophical, big picture style, frustratingly explains to Hammond that life has a way of adapting and evolving to a changing environment. Hammond asks about radiation or the depletion of the ozone layer as possible means of wiping out life, and Malcolm explains that those disasters, as well as others (such as dinosaurs), may wipe out life as humans know it, but life would go on in some form.
Chapter 52 Analysis
Malcolm is a big picture thinker, and is easily frustrated by Hammond's narrow-mindedness. In this chapter, their conflict seems to boil over. Even though the two men are fairly calm, this chapter explains the crux of their conflict. By the end, the reader is still not convinced that Hammond understands the full implications of what he has done.
Chapter 52 61 Chapter 53
Chapter 53 Summary
The computer system has come back online, and the authorities in San Jose have been alerted. The automatic dinosaur counting system numbers are starting to fall. Dr. Grant explains that the park is reaching equilibrium as nature, which was formerly separated, is now interacting with itself: Hungry species are feeding, and predators are fighting for territory.
Gennaro, who no longer supports the idea of the park, is looking forward to a military attack on the island. Dr. Grant believes that something more must be done. He and Dr. Sattler, Muldoon and Gennaro set out to search for and destroy the nest of raptors. A bunker full of nerve gas is found, which they decide to use. They attach a radio collar to a baby raptor they had found and set it free. They then follow the collar's transmission to the base of the volcano, where they believe the nests to be. Along the way, Dr. Grant and Gennaro have their own showdown. The significance of frog DNA is finally explained with a discussion about the ability of nature to compensate. In an area with a frog species of a single gender, it was documented that some could change gender as a way of helping life go on. So, the addition of frog DNA to the dinosaurs explains their ability to breed in spite of the "features" Dr. Wu had built into the dinosaur genetic structure.
Chapter 53 Analysis
As the seventh iteration wraps up the individual conflicts, the conflict between Dr. Grant and Gennaro is a conflict between the hero who survived, and the coward who enabled the island to exist. Throughout the book, Gennaro had glimpses of a heroic nature, but ultimately defaulted to his cowardly self. Dr. Grant walks toward danger to solve it.
Chapter 53 62 Chapter 54
Chapter 54 Summary
John Hammond, upset at Malcolm, gets more upset as the mathematician slips into a coma. Hammond feels that the mathematician's degenerating condition is a personal slap in the face, so he goes outside to get away from the situation. While outside, he begins to think about the situation. He convinces himself that his employees were the biggest problem. He lays blame on Arnold, Wu, Regis, Harding and Muldoon for the failure of the park. In spite of the huge investment, he is indifferent to the impending military strike, because he has dozens of frozen embryos at the InGen headquarters. While outside, he hears the roar of a Tyrannosaurus rex. He panics and runs into the forest, where he falls and breaks his ankle. A moment later, he realizes that the roar he heard was simply his grandchildren playing with the park's sound system in the control room. In Malcolm's room, the mathematician is beginning to mumble about a paradigm shift. He speaks blissfully about not caring anymore.
Chapter 54 Analysis
Hammond's character flaw is that he seems to be completely unaffected by the death and destruction the reader has just witnessed. In fact, Hammond seems to be completely indifferent to the amount of people who sacrificed their life in the past days. Malcolm, who has become a favorite character through the book, seems to be nearing the end. His talk about a paradigm shift is a dying speech about his personal shift from the current world paradigm into something else. The chapter title's use of the word "paradigm" instead of "paradise" is humorous and appropriate for Malcolm, the mathematician/scientist/philosopher.
Chapter 54 63 Chapter 55
Chapter 55 Summary
Dr. Grant is already descended through a hole in the ground to the raptor nest. This chapter opens with Dr. Sattler crawling after him. Gennaro's cowardice keeps him from following the scientists, but Muldoon threatens him with an industrial-strength cattle prod, and the lawyer follows. Once through the hole, Gennaro joins Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler, and they observe the raptors in their nest. They count the baby raptors and the adult raptors and observe their unusual behavior. The chapter closes as all the raptors run away.
Chapter 55 Analysis
Although the Tyrannosaurus rex was the most famous dinosaur on the island, the raptor turned out to be one of the most intelligent and dangerous. Now, the two scientists and the lawyer are in the very heart of danger and are preparing to put an end to it.
Chapter 55 64 Chapter 56
Chapter 56 Summary
Hammond, who had broken his ankle running into the forest in a previous chapter, is slowly making his way back to his bungalow. His injury and his age force him to rest, regularly, on the way back. Suddenly he hears squeaking behind him and sees the scavenging dinosaurs from the beginning of the book. They attack him and he falls. They begin biting him.
Chapter 56 Analysis
The reader, who is naturally drawn to the heroic Dr. Grant and increasingly repelled by the greedy Hammond, is not surprised to see him attacked. Given that Hammond's greed has allowed much of the death and destruction in the previous chapters, there is a dark sense of justice in this chapter.
Chapter 56 65 Chapter 57
Chapter 57 Summary
Dr. Grant and his team follow the dinosaurs from their nest to the beach and are surprised to watch them stand and wait with regimented, military precision, as they see the freighter approach the island. Dr. Grant realizes that these raptors, like birds, are preparing to migrate.
Chapter 57 Analysis
In this chapter, the reader learns more about the behavior pattern of the raptors and hints at a potential threat to humankind beyond the island.
Chapter 57 66 Chapter 58
Chapter 58 Summary
While still standing on the beach observing the raptors' behavior, the military helicopters from Costa Rica land and pick up the team. The others from the lodge are already there, but indicate neither Hammond nor Malcolm would be leaving the island as both are dead. A Costa Rican soldier asks each person in turn, who is in charge, but Dr. Grant finally answers him by saying that no one is. The destruction begins.
Chapter 58 Analysis
The reader is relieved to see so many of the characters they had come to empathize with are now safe, but both the creator of Jurassic Park and its biggest critic die there. Although an epilogue follows, this final chapter fittingly closes by asking an appropriate question concerning who is in charge. It is answered by Dr. Grant, as he tells them that no one is.
Chapter 58 67 Epilogue
Epilogue Summary
The survivors are stuck in San Jose. The Costa Rican government is understandably upset about the tragedy and near disaster that occurred on one of their islands. Dr. Grant meets the researcher Marty Guitierrez from the very beginning of the book that tells him about some unusual behavior in unknown animals. The unusual behavior is a migratory pattern, they determine, and the unknown animals are tending to eat food rich in lysine, which they had been genetically designed to be deficient in.
Epilogue Analysis
Malcolm's prediction continues to prove true, that life will find a way to continue in spite of the safeguards and barriers, and while the conflict in the story has been wrapped up, the reader is left with a foreboding sense that the danger will continue.
Epilogue 68 Characters
Dr. Alan Grant
Dr. Alan Grant is a leading paleontologist from the University of Denver. He is 40-years-old, barrel-chested and bearded. A lover of the outdoors, he prefers hands-on labor to academia and technology. The story begins with him on a dinosaur dig in the Badlands with Dr. Sattler. The two of them get a call from their wealthy benefactor, John Hammond, who invites them to a tropical island for a weekend consultation. The science of Jurassic Park fascinates Grant, as does the opportunity to learn about the living versions of the bones he's been digging for years.
At the park, he connects well with the children, especially Tim, who respects Grant's opinions of dinosaurs (which are somewhat controversial in paleontology circles but proven to be accurate at Jurassic Park). His scientific detachment brings him to Jurassic Park as a neutral observer, so the reader is able to identify with him without prejudging the park. While some of the characters see the moneymaking capabilities of the park, and others feel the park is doomed for failure; Dr. Grant is simply a passive observer, who gets drawn into the action. He survives.
Ian Malcolm
Malcolm is 35-years-old, tall, thin and balding. He is eccentric and philosophical, dressing in black and tending to monologue about the meaning of life. As an eminent mathematician specializing in the field of chaos theory, Malcolm is the foil to John Hammond, openly opposing his dream of Jurassic Park. Just about every time Malcolm speaks, his words encompass the central themes of the book. He dies.
Characters 69 John Hammond
This 76-year-old entrepreneur is an impish showman. His primary motivation is to create a spectacle and make money from it, no matter what the cost is to him or anyone else. In spite of his indifference to the costs, both monetary and in human life, he is emotional when it comes to things that are important to him. He dies.
Tim Murphy
Hammond's grandson is an 11-year-old boy with an interest in dinosaurs and sensitivity to his parents' impending divorce. Tim has two roles in the book. The first is, as a child, to heighten the level of tension and danger, since readers will naturally feel more tension about the endangerment of a child than an adult. The second role he plays he shares with others, like Gennaro. He acts as the voice of the reader. Like Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Tim is able to speak for the reader and ask the scientific experts what they mean when they use technological or scientific jargon or draw conclusions from their knowledge-base. This speaking-for-the-reader allows the experts to give their explanation to the readers without putting the story on hold, and having the writer speak directly to the reader. Tim survives.
Alexis Murphy
Alexis Murphy is Hammond's granddaughter and Tim's younger sister. She is a tomboy, who likes baseball. Like her older brother, she is there to raise the level of tension. The siblings occasionally bicker (like siblings normally do), which provides for occasional lighthearted entertainment, but also helps to move the plot forward. One example is when she and Tim are bickering, and they awaken a nearby dinosaur, who gives chase. Without her, there would be no interaction during the times when Dr. Grant is away (like during the scene on the ledge behind the waterfall or the kitchen scene at the end of the book), and that would make the story dull. She survives.
John Hammond 70 Donald Gennaro
Although he had potential for personal growth in the story, Gennaro defaulted back to being a coward. He is a family man, a lawyer and a former investment banker. He is easily influenced by others, like his boss, Hammond, Muldoon and Dr. Grant. Like Tim, Gennaro can be the voice of the reader, asking the experts for explanation of their theories, like a Watson character. He survives.
Dennis Nedry
Dennis Nedry is a computer programmer and a constant snacker. He is bribed by InGen's competition to steal the dinosaur embryos. He is the catalyst, who sets the situation in motion. In his haste, he makes a critical error that costs him his life. Although the reader is indifferent to him at the beginning, he grows less likable, and the reader will feel will a sense of justice at his gruesome death. He dies.
Dr. Ellie Sattler
Dr. Sattler is an attractive, blond 24-year-old paleobotanist and student of Dr. Grant's. Like Dr. Grant, she is fascinated by the science of Jurassic Park. Although she appears with Dr. Grant at the beginning, she does not figure largely in the action, although periodically she will help move the story forward. For example, when they first arrive on the island, her paleobotany background allows her to identify a poisonous plant near the pool and reveal the contrast between apparent safety and actual danger. Later, she distracts the raptors on the roof of the compound, which helps save the lives of the people trapped inside. She survives.
Donald Gennaro 71 Objects/Places
Costa Rica
The story begins and ends in Costa Rica, a narrow South American country. It is an exotic place to set the introduction and conclusion; and with its jungles, new species are being discovered constantly, which allows for the plausible miscommunication at the beginning of the story.
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park is Isla Nubar, a small, volcanic island off of Costa Rica, which has been transformed into a theme park of epic proportions. One of its flaws is that it was designed to house dinosaurs based on the concept of what dinosaurs would probably be once they were full-grown. Once they had grown, however, it was discovered that the park was terribly inadequate for how they really are.
Helicopters
The use of helicopters in the book is easily overlooked; however, they make four appearances. Each appearance is at a significant point. In the first three appearances, helicopters serve to increase tension: First, in the prologue, when Regis brings the wounded construction worker to the mainland; next when the main characters arrive on the island; and finally when Hammond's grandchildren show up. The last appearance of the helicopter is when the Costa Rican military arrives to take everyone off the island.
Objects/Places 72 The Control Room
A large portion of the book is spent in the Control Room, or central computer room, which ultimately demonstrates the irony of its name. The reliance on computers and technology to count the animals turned out to be insufficient, based on the central theme of the book. The computer system, ended up counting only the number of dinosaurs expected to be there, rather than the actual number that were on the island. This meant that the park's designers ultimately missed the dangerous revelation that the dinosaurs were breeding.
The Computer System
The highly specialized Computer System can only be competently operated by a few people. It encompasses all areas of the park, from dinosaur creation to their maintenance and control. It inadvertently has some flaws, though, which allow the dinosaurs to roam freely and endanger the first tour group in the park. Specifically, its computerized counting system only looks for the number of dinosaurs it expects to find, in an attempt to ensure that none escape. It never catches the dozens that are breeding, because it is not looking for any more. It is also ties the entire park together, so that a system failure cuts power shuts down valuable controls, like the electrified fence. As well, because of the constant movement of the trees and water, the system's motion detection is not designed to observe animals that are in the water or forest, which means Dr. Grant and the children and the Tyrannosaurus rex go unnoticed in the river. After the raptors attack the compound, everyone who can run the system is dead, leaving two children to try to get the system back up in order to save the lives of those who are trapped in the lodge.
The Compound
The compound is made up of several outbuildings, Hammond's bungalow, the visitor's
The Control Room 73 center, the hotel, and the laboratory and control room. This is the area designed to be safe and relaxing for the future tourist's entertainment, while being the epicenter of production and control for the park staff. In spite of the design, it is shown to be unsafe, and the place where many characters perish. Its danger is hinted at when Sattler notices poisonous plants near the pool, and its lack of safety is first shown at the retrofitted security measures. All of the novel's major conflicts end here: Both Hammond and Malcolm die here, and there is a final showdown between the survivors and the intelligent raptors.
Amber
The first time the reader hears about amber it is in relation to Hammond, during an interview between Dr. Grant and a man from the EPA. In the interview, the man asks Grant about Hammond's fascination with collecting amber, since he has the world's largest private collection of it. The reader is told that it is the dried resin of a tree sap, but nothing else. Later, during the initial tour of the park laboratory, it is shown how amber has allowed the scientists to clone dinosaurs: the amber sometimes contains prehistoric mosquitoes, which feasted on dinosaur blood, then got caught in tree sap. Modern scientists can extract the DNA from the blood and combine it with frog DNA to create reasonably authentic dinosaurs.
Frog DNA
This was the DNA used by the Jurassic Park scientists to fill in the gaps wherever the dinosaur DNA was missing. For most of the book, the reader is reminded by various conversations and actions of the characters that this is important, and related to the breeding of the dinosaurs. However, it doesn't come out until much later that this is because frogs have been known to change gender in areas of single-gender species. The frog DNA proves Malcolm's theory that life somehow finds a way to survive.
The Compound 74 Procompsognathids
This is the first dinosaur the reader encounters in the book. It ends up being simply a minor scavenging dinosaur and is often initially mistaken for a lizard. While most people would consider them as pests in the book, and not the main dander, they were successful in raising tension in the beginning of the novel as they attacked children. In a final irony, they attack and kill Hammond.
Tyrannosaurus Rex
This famous dinosaur provides most of the danger through the book, as two of them, a 20 foot adult and an 8 foot juvenile, chase Dr. Grant and the children through the park. In the end, the final climax surrounds a more intelligent dinosaur, this is the one that initiated the main quest in the book for the main characters by destroying the cars that were out on the tour. In his first encounter with this dinosaur, Dr. Grant is saved from certain death by his discovery that they can only see movement, so he stands perfectly still. Ultimately, the Tyrannosaurus rex, when compared with the raptor, is shown to be a giant, lumbering animal with an appetite and a little brain, It still, however, provides the primary danger element for the characters trying to get back to the compound.
Raptor
This dinosaur is hinted at being, in the prologue, as a mysterious bird of prey. As the story continues, it is revealed that it is the most intelligent of the dinosaurs. Some of the characters hint at how sadistic it is, killing for pleasure. They hunt in packs and are capable of high level thought. It is the first dinosaur the reader hears about, and it is the last dinosaur the reader encounters. Its nature to kill is what forces the reluctant heroes forward, as Dr. Grant and the children strive to get back to the compound to tell the others about the escaped Raptor on the ship headed for the mainland. In the end, it
Procompsognathids 75 is only Dr. Grant, the paleontologist, who can kill them because of his knowledge of dinosaurs.
Gilette Foamy Shaving Cream Bottle
This is the object Nedry is going to use to get the dinosaur embryos off the island. The innocent looking bottle contains some shaving cream in the top, so it passes a cursory inspection; but the bottom is actually a storage container for 15 embryos. It contains enough coolant gas to keep the embryos alive for 36 hours. For the delivery of the embryos in this container, Nedry will be paid $50,000 for each embryo, plus $50,000 for each one that is usable. Nedry is killed before he can deliver the shaving cream bottle, and Muldoon finds it and brings it back to the compound.
"Welcome to Jurassic Park" Sign
At the end of the second iteration, the characters have just arrived on the island and have encountered the dinosaurs for the first time. Astonished at the sight, they begin to head from the helicopter pad toward the compound, and the chapter closes with them passing under "a crude hand-painted sign," which reads "Welcome to Jurassic Park." (Quotes from Chapter 16, page 82).
Toyota Land Cruisers
These are electric-powered SUVs that have been modified to drive by a computer. They have radios and computer screens, and when the park opens, it is intended that they will be the way that the visitors will be taken through the park. When these amazing vehicles are introduced, the characters are reminded that the park's designers spared no expense for their comfort, safety and enjoyment. The SUV's reliance on computers and electricity, though, turned out to allow for the initial danger of the Tyrannosaurus rex to unfold after the power went out, and the vehicles were rendered
Raptor 76 useless.
Jeeps
Two Jeeps are the only non-electricity powered vehicles on the island, since the park was designed to be almost completely automated. Dr. Harding, Dr. Sattler and Gennaro were in one Jeep, returning to the compound after caring for the sick Stegosaur. Nedry took the other Jeep after he stole the embryos. This lack of planning on the part of the designers kept Dr. Grand and Hammond's grandchildren from being rescued quickly when they were attacked.
Security Measures
The first time the reader learns about the security measures on the island is when Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler are reviewing the architectural drawings sent to them by Hammond. The drawing reveals fences, moats and bunkers which are likened to a military installation rather than a tourist resort. At the park, the characters discover that some of the security measures, like fences around the compound and bars on the windows, appear to be an afterthought that did not show up on the architectural drawings. Even the retrofitted security bars proved to be inadequate for the raptors, which could bite through the steel. Other security measures, like the fences, were only effective when the power was on, and the greedy Nedry turned them off to steal the embryos. Other security measures, like tasers and giant cattle prods, are not used in the book, because their stockpile of weapons is said to be woefully inadequate against the dinosaurs.
Dilophosaurus
Although they only make a couple of appearances in the book, both times are fraught with danger. These are ten foot tall dinosaurs with poisonous, acidic spit. They kill
Toyota Land Cruisers 77 Nedry, who is just about to return to the compound from a failed attempt at stealing the embryos, when he is killed in a gruesome encounter with this dinosaur. Later in the book, two Dilophosauri are involved in a mating ritual at the river, and there is a tense moment as Dr. Grant and the children float by, so close to harm. While their second appearance is tension filled, their first appearance in the book is what keeps the characters in danger, since only Nedry knows about the computer program design.
The River
Dr. Grant and the children use the raft as a means of getting back to the compound as quickly as possible. Their safety is still endangered on the river, though, since the adult Tyrannosaur is big enough to walk in the river. Three times, they face the Tyrannosaurus rex as they raft down the river. They come out of the first two encounters, because the dinosaur is distracted in its attempt to devour them. The third time seems to be the definite end as they careen over a waterfall with the dinosaur at the bottom. Adding tension to their river escape is a flaw in the park's monitoring system that does not monitor movement near the river, so the people in the control room cannot find Dr. Grant, the children or the dinosaur. Because of this, the river is both their best hope for rapid escape, but also the most dangerous path to take.
Dilophosaurus 78 Social Concerns
The potential for the misuse of science by industry is the obvious concern in this futuristic environmentalist novel. What may happen when second-tier minds get a hold of techniques pioneered by first-rate ones but with applications that their originators never intended is the stuff of nightmares and certainly Jurassic Park fulfills the requirements.
A luxury resort is being built on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica, with a unique feature that should make its American builders and faceless Japanese investors a fabulous profit -a menagerie of genuine living dinosaurs, each species in its own section of tropical forest for as "natural" a setting as possible, even though such parks require a great deal of expertise as well as manpower to keep the appearance of unspoiled nature.
With the re-birth of the dinosaurs its designers have also brought back, not only a few large but rather stupid exotic animals as might be believed, but also parts of an ecosystem that humans know even less about than they do about contemporary ones now being earnestly studied from the plains of the Serengenti to the Amazon rain forests by wildlife experts.
On the eve of its opening to the public, a team of experts is brought in to tour the park and give their endorsement. But Nature itself has yet to have been consulted. A combination of violent tropical weather conditions and human perfidy expose the park's weaknesses, and its human contingent to the unleashed monsters. The result is a sort of biological Chernobyl disaster, which first destroys its creators and then threatens the outside world.
Chaos theory enters into the story as a mechanism for making the events comprehensible in contemporary terms.
Social Concerns 79 The technicians who resurrected the dinosaurs for InGen, Inc., the fictional bio-engineering company of the novel, are mere human beings who have created living creatures out of non-living material: DNA fragments extracted from certain types of fossils, millions of years old. It is a God-like act without divine wisdom, or even the Environmental Protection Agency, to provide even a semblance of oversight, having been perpetrated clandestinely on a remote island in a third-world country unequipped to penetrate such a cloak of secrecy. It has even been protected from oversight by its own investors. The executive in charge of the operation, an elderly mountebank who plays the genial old man when it suits his purposes, is a tight-fisted tyrant who ignores his own highlypaid experts and has bamboozled the investors into believing he can deliver on his outrageous promises if given complete authority over the project until opening day.
Chaos theory maintains that complex events can emerge out of even very simple systems if they are driven too hard. One can imagine the pressures on the scientists working for a company that must show quarterly dividends for its investors while finding a new, lifesaving drug, or a better breed of vegetable. What corners might have to be cut to guarantee a staggering profit in a completely new area of genetic research - reconstructing an extinct species of animal - in exchange for five years of immense and unsupervised financing? By the time of the fateful weekend inspection of Jurassic Park, on the distant Isla Nublar shrouded from view by a perpetual curtain of mist and a reputation among superstitious native peoples as the habitation of ghosts, the stage is set for a rapid deterioration of the human control over the park and its inhabitants. It is not just profits or prestige or even a small number of human lives that may be lost in the debacle. From the very first pages of the novel it can be deduced that the self-imposed but confidential quarantine of the island may have been broken, allowing the spread of dangerous and unpredictable geneticallyengineered species to the mainland.
Here, the pressures of the marketplace, which act in evolutionary fashion to eliminate unfit companies from surviving very long, don't have time to come into play. InGen has time to do its damage before its product ever has to face public scrutiny.
Social Concerns 80 Crichton has based his most successful novels on the wonders and fears that people have about the science with which they come into contact most intimately: biology. The only scientist that most people ever come into contact with on a regular basis is their family doctor, who through the tools and techniques of his craft can prevent much of the illness and early death that most generations of mankind have had to accept as their lot. Modern biological scientists have tools at their disposal today that have enabled them to develop new theories and techniques undreamt of by their predecessors. One powerful tool is the computer, now so efficiently miniaturized in the personal desktop models that each scientist, even junior ones, can use its powers to formulate and test new hypotheses individually. A Cray super-computer as mentioned in the novel, not much larger than a walk-in closet, can do the necessary work of keeping track of the enormous volumes of data to model the complexities of biological entities like DNA strands from living cells. The other tools are chemical ones: compounds that can snip apart chromosomes, the feature of cells that contain the information on how each organism produces copies of itself, stop the process of chromosome reproduction so that it can be studied in detail, and still other compounds that can splice genesany genes - back into the chromosome.
Biologists can now not only thoroughly study existing life: they can now readily manufacture new forms if they wish.
Although modern scientists are a long way from producing complex organisms like the dinosaurs of the novel, they are not quite as far away as the average person might think. Crichton, who weaves his knowledge of computers, biology, chemistry, psychology, and the new science of chaos theory, constructs a convincing, although not airtight, thriller about deceased life reborn and about the oldfashioned idea of hubris -- overweening pride that comes before a fall.
Social Concerns 81 Techniques
Jurassic Park is a scientific thriller.
This genre usually presents characters making their way through an extremely dangerous, often mysterious, environment to the relative safety of the everyday world, sometimes solving a problem along the way, other times accomplishing no more than their own survival. Crichton's early novel, The Andromeda Strain (1969), is a good example of the genre, where scientists must survive contact with the strange world of the ultra-clean biological laboratory, risking exposure to an unknown plague virus in order to study it and learn how to prevent its spread. For the author, a thorough grounding in modern science is necessary to make such a thriller both interesting and convincing. As an anthropologist and medical doctor, Crichton has parlayed his knowledge and skills as a researcher into a long career as a best-selling author of scientific thrillers.
Part of Crichton's success is due to an effective mix of reality, fantasy, and paranoia. The target audience of this type of novel are college-educated, males more often than females, who are very much grounded in the workaday world. A plot that takes them too far from the world they know will not engage this audience; they do not have the tolerance of the science-fiction fan for adventures set in the far future or at great distance from the planet they know, or where society itself has been radically transformed. The thriller is firmly set in the familiar frontiers of land and sea, transformed only by the expert knowledge of a protagonist or another pivotal character or group of characters. Jurassic Park brings back a long-gone era, not through the science fiction convention of time travel, but through genetic engineering, a new biological science that is in use in industry already. The survivors of the adventure are experts, not in the cutand-paste aspects of genetic chemistry, but in the final result -- the living population of re-introduced dinosaurs, where only the hardy and knowledgeable survive. Even Malcolm, who predicted the park's demise, does not survive past a day after his encounter with a full-grown tyrannosaur.
Techniques 82 Themes
Vanity and the human capacity for deception -- of the self as well as others -- in the service of greed make for a frightening combination. Certainly it seems like vanity to walk into the great unknown with an inadequate understanding of what can go wrong and a refusal to listen to the available experts by denigrating them into mere "hired hands," yet this is just what is done by John Hammond, a wealthy eccentric and his partners, venture capitalists, who have bankrolled Jurassic Park.
They have allowed themselves to be persuaded to make the venture possible by Hammond, a sort of sinister P.T.
Barnum, without fully considering responsibilities that success might entail. Could InGen, under pressure to meet their deadline, be taking the time to do adequate research on security, especially since gaps in the DNA sequences have been filled with genes from modern species by the lead scientist, Dr. Henry Wu? As a molecular geneticist Wu cannot guarantee the behavior of his creations until after they mature; what might these hybrids be capable of that the original dinosaurs were not?
Hammond's people have built in physical and biological safeguards against accidental escape by the denizens of the park: giant electrical fences and metabolic deficiencies. But the team of outside experts quickly begin to note gaps in security that the InGen people have been too close to the project to see. Even though Hammond's intention of bringing them in for a quick visit was merely to get their stamp of approval, not to have them solve any of the park's real problems, it is these experts - paleontologist Alan Grant, paleobotanist Ellie Sattler and mathematician Ian Malcolm - who save Hammond's grandchildren, whom he unwisely brought in to see the park, although at the end they cannot save either the park or Hammond himself.
Vanity and greed serve as principal motivations. In Hammond's case the motivation is not so much a greed for money as it is a greed for undeserved adulation. Hammond
Themes 83 wants to be recognized as a great visionary, the leader of a team that made a unprecedented achievement in science and industry.
While he has the kind of understanding of the dark side of people that has made him able to manipulate them in the past, this is not the kind of expertise that will get him very far in a ground-breaking scientific endeavor that Jurassic Park, calling back an entire era of the past, is meant to be. The rest of his team -- engineers, geneticists, animal handlers, public relations people -- seem to suffer from an inability to step back and look at the project objectively. The author would seem to saying that if they had they would see that it was not quite the golden opportunity-of-a-lifetime that they would have liked; that the old man had sold them an illusion -- the illusion of control over Nature, which is less easy to believe the more one knows about the subject. Crichton paints them as old-fashioned linear thinkers, the type that Ian Malcolm's theory of the nonlinear nature of reality would make as obsolete as the dinosaurs. The conditions of the work, like having an elderly miser on the edge of senility as chief executive, might then have alerted them that this was a project in big trouble, the kind of trouble that could be literally deadly for those closest to it.
Themes 84 Significant Topics
The Power of Life
Hammond and his team believe that they have control over the lives of the dinosaurs they have created. Hammond's foil, Malcolm, shows that life does not fit in fences and boundaries. Malcolm's predictions and calculations turned out to be true. Malcolm personified this theme.
The scientific authorities in Jurassic Park all deny the existence of dinosaurs off the island; even though the reader "witnessed" their attacks and know they exist outside of Isla Nubar. Later, Tim witnesses raptors escaping from the island on a supply ship, proving Malcolm's theory.
The scientist's use of frog DNA in creating dinosaurs, although seeming to be clever, turned out to be the ultimate reason that allowed the animals to breed outside of the laboratory: They have the ability to change genders as part of Life's attempt to keep going.
All of the technology used to create, maintain and control the dinosaurs proves to be inadequate, from the computer counting system that cannot keep an accurate count, to the security measure like fences and weapons that cannot stop the dinosaurs.
Shortly after the climax, the characters observe the park's dinosaur counting system is showing the numbers of dinosaurs declining. When asked why this is, Dr. Grant responds that the life on the island is sorting itself out. Formerly not allowed to interact, different species are starting to revert to their true predator/prey relationship when the boundaries are finally broken down.
A nest of raptors is discovered, proving Malcolm's theories again, and Dr. Grant, back in his role of neutral scientific observer, discovers in wonderment that the raptors are
Significant Topics 85 preparing to migrate to the mainland on the incoming ship. The nest, the male raptors, and the method of escape all point to the dinosaur's ability to survive in spite of the controls put in place on the island.
The characters who survived, particularly Dr. Grant and the children, demonstrated as well that life finds a way to survive. In spite of many near-death experiences, they overcame.
The story ends with a final reminder that life finds a way to keep going, as Dr. Grant learns that the dinosaurs living off of the island are eating food that is rich in the enzyme they had been designed to be dependent on. In spite of Dr. Wu's careful science, Malcolm's theory is shown to be true again.
The Folly of Greed
The folly of greed is about one person's passionate desire for something (money, fame, spectacle) overriding everything else. In fact, this desire blinds them to alternative viewpoints or consequences of their actions. Greed was a big motivator in this book.
Hammond's greed for money and spectacle, drove him to create Jurassic Park and ignore the warning signs. To prove how safe the park is, he invites his young grand children to enjoy it for the weekend. Even during their initial encounter with a Tyrannosaur, he remains unknowing of their situation, which is shown by his eating gourmet ice cream in his house, while his family and friends are struggling for their lives nearby. Even after the seriousness of the situation is told to him, he still tries to care for his dinosaurs in the hopes that they can still be used in the park. Just before his death, he lays blame elsewhere for the destruction that has happened and seems to shrug off the cost in dollars and human life, as he thinks of the embryos still in his company's mainland vaults.
Dr. Wu's greed for fame, and the feeling of godlike power drove him to create
The Power of Life 86 dinosaurs without regard for caution. Although it is not discussed in great detail, the reader does learn that his employment with Hammond is a result of his desire for scientific fame. He is a brilliant man, who has been able to accomplish a great deal in cloning dinosaurs, but he scientific ingenuity was the undoing in the park, as he discovered that the frog DNA allowed the dinosaurs to breed. He is killed by the dinosaurs he created.
Arnold's greed for control kept him from seeing how little control he actually had. Every time the story flashes from the chaos and danger in the park to the control room, Arnold seems to believe he is just getting it back under control. The computer counting system he was proud of, however, contained a flaw that had it only count up to the number of dinosaurs it expected, and not account for any more. When Muldoon and Gennaro go out to tranquilize the Tyrannosaurus rex, Arnold still doesn't get it and he tells them to be careful since it is going to be the primary attraction of the park. Only when a group of people arm themselves to try to get to the maintenance shed does Arnold begin to realize the severity of the situation. He is killed by the very creatures he thought he controlled.
Dennis Nedry's greed for money drove him to shut down the system and steal the dinosaur embryos, ultimately setting in motion the rest of the story. Having released the dinosaurs, he is attacked and killed by one.
It is interesting to note that all four men died as a result of their greed.
People Versus Nature
Because of the Folly of greed from the people listed above, and because of the power of life, as described by Malcolm, the rest of the characters, who are otherwise innocent bystanders, end up in the struggle of man/woman against nature.
Dr. Grant embodies this struggle right from the beginning. In the Montana badlands,
The Folly of Greed 87 the reader discovers this paleontologist who prefers to work outdoors with his hands than teach at a university.
The conflict is repeatedly seen in the poisonous plants around the pool, the retrofitted security measure around the lodge, and the inadequate tasers and cattle prods. It points to the suggestion that in a conflict between people and nature, nature will win.
As the story unfolds, he and the children embody this struggle of people against nature. Even though they win personally, they do not actually overcome nature, but merely earn their survival.
As each character comes face to face with a dinosaur, the theme is shown again and again. In some cases, the people win. In other cases, nature wins. In all cases, though, this theme proves to be subordinate to the primary theme that life will overcome. This theme is still important, though, but serves as a temporary conflict between specific people and dinosaurs. The main theme, espoused by Malcolm, is a big picture theme about the balance of life.
Many people lose in this conflict, which supports Malcolm's theory about the primary theme in the book of the ability of life to carry on.
People Versus Nature 88 Style
Point of View
Jurassic Park is told in third person, and the author switches between an omniscient third person and a limited-view third person. This gives him great control to sometimes relate the thoughts of the characters to the reader, but he sometimes builds suspense by following one character and only showing what they see when they see it. The point of view does not follow all the one group of people that jumps back and forth between the groups of people. In order to add to the staccato, rapid-fighter feeling of the action, but to also to show what some characters are doing while other characters are fighting for their lives in other parts of the park. This lets the author contrast the arrogant and opulent indifference of the Hammond, or the misconception of control by Arnold, with the desperate fight for survival of Dr. Grant and the children.
Setting
Jurassic Park takes place in an island off of Costa Rica in August, 1989. The actual year is hardly important, since the tale simply works in a "modern" era. Jurassic Park, however, as a setting, is an island of contrast. On the one hand, it has been built and modified, with no expense spared, to create a safe and technologically advanced environment. On the other hand, it has been built to be a prehistoric world of vicious dinosaurs. When the technology fails, the dinosaurs are able to roam freely. The potential danger of the park is best described when Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler first arrive at the tourist compound and discover the security bars retrofitted to the windows in the lodge.
Style 89 Language and Meaning
The language used in the story had enough scientific complexity to make the story seem authentic and plausible, without becoming confusing and ponderous and losing the non-scientific reader. Unknown terms and ideas about genetics and chaos theory are explained in a way that makes the concepts easy to understand for the layperson and does not distract from the book. At times, entire pages were taken up with diagrams, meaningless strains of computer code, and lists of names, which the reader is not expected to read, but simply to observe as a whole, in order to lend an element of authenticity to the book. Without these realistic elements, the book would have a hard time seeming a real, which would not give it the same impact and feeling of tension that the reader felt as they read.
Structure
The novel is divided into seven parts, called iterations, which follow Malcolm's theory about the unpredictability of life. In each of the iterations, his calculation comes true. The short chapters give the story, a staccato feeling of rapid-fire action, and make the story easy to read quickly, because the reader will continue to turn from short chapter to short chapter to see what is going on. The first six iterations end with a little but a resolution and a few more questions, as the tension rises through the book. Although total chaos breaks out in the first half of the book, the people fighting for control experience brief moments of control as they attempt to fight back. Although the cost is high, and they are unsuccessful at actually quelling the dinosaur threat, they move from victim to defender; and, in Dr. Grant, attacker.
Language and Meaning 90 Quotes
" 'Dinosaurs,' Dodson said. 'They are cloning dinosaurs.' " Chapter 12, pg. 68.
" 'I always maintained this island would be unworkable,' Malcolm said. 'I predicted it from the beginning... And I trust by now we all know what the eventual outcome is going to be. You are going to have to shut the thing down. "' Chapter 14, page 74.
"We spared no expense." Chapter 19, Page 136.
"... the history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way." Chapter 27, page 160.
"Real life isn't a series of interconnected events occurring one after another like beads strung on a necklace. Life is actually a series of encounters in which one event may change those that follow, in a wholly unpredictable, even devastating way." Chapter 29, page 172.
" '... who is in charge?'
'Nobody,' Grant said."' Chapter 58, page 397.
"At the earliest drawings of the fractal curve, few clues to the underlying mathematical structure will be seen." First iteration title page, page 9.
"With subsequent drawings of the fractal curve, sudden changes may appear." Second iteration title page, page 31.
"Details emerge more clearly as the fractal curve is redrawn." Third iteration title page, page 83.
Quotes 91 "Inevitably, underlying instabilities begin to appear." Fourth iteration title page, page 179.
"Flaws in the system will now become severe." Fifth iteration title page, page 269.
"System recovery may prove impossible." Sixth iteration title page, page 315.
"Increasingly, the mathematics will demand the courage to face its implications." Seventh iteration title page, page 363.
Quotes 92 Adaptations
In 1993 Crichton and David Koepp adapted Jurassic Park into a screenplay for Universal Studios, directed by Steven Spielberg. Veteran actor and director Richard Attenborough was chosen for the role of an un-sinister John Hammond, Sam Neill as the tough-minded Alan Grant, Laura Dern as the courageous Ellie Sattler, and Jeff Goldblum as the oddball mathematician Ian Malcolm. Samuel L. Jackson portrayed engineer John Arnold and character actor Wayne Knight played Dennis Nedry. Bob Peck played Muldoon but the characters of Ed Regis and Donald Gennaro were merged into a single role with some traits of both for actor Martin Ferrero. The ages of Hammond's grandchildren were reversed, with child actress Ariana Richards playing a computer-literate Lex and young Joseph Mazzello as her dinosaur-obsessed little brother Tim.
Fifty-six million dollars was budgeted by Universal to produce the film: the indoor scenes were shot in the studio in California and outdoor scenes on location in Hawaii. The academyaward-winning special effects were created by a team of technical experts who had to invent new animation techniques as they went along, since nothing quite as ambitious had ever been tried before. The symphonic musical score, composed by John Williams, beautifully expresses the primal grandeur of the largest animals ever to walk the Earth. Cinematography and film editing were performed by Dean Cundey and Michael Kuhn.
The movie by necessity condenses the time spent by Grant and the two children lost in the park -- the journey by river to the hunting lodge is dropped from the movie -- and the fates of some of the senior staff are altered. Grant and Sattler have been contemplating marriage to each other, held up mostly by Grant's dislike of children, which changes by the end of the movie. The dark side of Hammond's character has been lightened considerably, so that the scales of poetic justice do not require him to be killed by his dinosaurs, nor is Ian Malcolm required to die tragically. The ultimate fate of Jurassic Parks' dinosaurs is not yet determined by the end of the picture, so that
Adaptations 93 the movie-goer is not required to witness the destruction of these magnificent but menacing creatures.
The film of Jurassic Park made back six times its production costs in the domestic market alone and has gone on to earn many more millions of dollars from theater tickets all over the world.
It has become something of a cultural phenomenon; the National Basketball Association named a new team the Raptors in honor of the fierce packhunting velociraptors who nearly succeed in killing all the remaining humans on the island. Videotape sales, a Books on Tape version, computer games and an adaptation of the novel into a version for children have all done well, partly because public interest in dinosaurs and other paleontological discoveries is at an all-time high.
Adaptations 94 Key Questions
Crichton's penchant for picking up on and writing about the hot topics of the day shows an unusual sensitivity, not only on what is worrying the average person but also what will intrigue and delight him. To do so the author has developed his own personal blend of the didactic and the entertaining, reflecting his background in the social and biological sciences, as well as his interest in the history and philosophical underpinnings of the civilization that produced them. One of Crichton's longtime concerns is the ability of human beings to comprehend the changes in society as they occur, rather than lagging behind, mired in an obsolete mind-cast. This concern shows up early in his career, particularly in The Great Train Robbery, in which the Victorians of London were shown to be quite out of touch with the changes that the industrial revolution was forcing on their civilization, making the robbery possible.
Jurassic Park lends itself very well to group discussion that focus on many possible topics, from the impact of environmentalism to the problems of a changing American work place.
Women can discuss how they relate to unconventional feminine characters like Dr. Sattler, and, since so many people have either seen or can still rent the film at video stores everywhere, whether it was a good idea for Lex to become the computer expert in the movie when it was her brother who played that role in the book. Men can react to the revelation that all of the park's dinosaurs, even the fiercest, are or originally were female, and how the social dynamics of the all-male senior staff of the park remind them of their own work experiences. For a fast-moving book, Jurassic Park is rich in detail and background, its discussions of ethics and changing views of how the natural world really works enough to intrigue people from a wide range of educational backgrounds, whether or not they agree with the author's assessment of the future of scientific research and the need for strict oversight.
1. Does the plot of the novel or its setting seem far-fetched? If not, why?
Key Questions 95 Do its scientific premises seem believable and well-thought out?
2. Are Crichton's characters realistic?
For example, John Hammond flirts with criminal negligence in his management of the park, ignoring his experts' advise and cutting corners on expenses that later turn out be crucial.
Yet he has managed to raise money and be at least the nominal head of the operation. Is he at all typical of the American executive? Is he atypical but still plausible? Is he completely unbelievable?
3. Dr. Sattler comes off as a person of grit and considerable bravery. Is she a believable character?
4. If one could infer from the novel, what does the author seem to be saying about the bioengineering field? BioSyn (bio-sin), InGen's competitor, is a sleazy outfit, and InGen is little better.
Are BioSyn and InGen just a couple of rogue organizations who happen to be interested in the same technology, or is the author casting aspersions on this particular type of marriage of science and industry?
5. If it were up to you, would you destroy all the dinosaurs, as Dr. Grant insists must be done at the end of the novel? Why?
6. Does this novel have a hero or heroine? If so, who is it (or them)?
Does this person have any negative traits? If so, why would the author include such elements?
Key Questions 96 7. What is chaos theory? Why does Crichton introduce it into a book about genetic-engineering?
8. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the creation of life by conducting electricity into dead tissue is considered a sin against God, much like Adam's disobedience in the Garden of Eden, and the result for Victor Frankenstein is to relive the grief of Adam being forced out of paradise. Why do you think no one in Jurassic Park uses the term "playing God" when referring to InGen's project?
9. Is Crichton implying that the human race is incapable of managing discoveries? Are there some things that science simply shouldn't investigate?
Why?
Key Questions 97 Topics for Discussion
Discuss the differences between the book and the movie. What challenges and preconceptions did you have reading the book, if you had seen the movie first? Why did the producers make the changes they made when creating the movie from the book?
The chapter title "Control" is used many times in the book. Discuss the use of the word control and talk about specific people and animals and identify who has control over whom.
Identify the major conflicts between characters, discuss their origins and locate their point of resolution.
Discuss how Malcolm's quote on the title page of each of the iterations is a prediction of the events that will occur in that iteration.
Jurassic Park is a place of contrast. Identify some of the contrasts and explain them, showing how they point toward the major conflicts.
Identify the protagonist and antagonist in the book. Explain your choices. While the protagonist might be easy to identify, why does the antagonist seen more difficult to identify?
How would the story be different if Malcolm or the children were not on the island?
How would the story be different if the essay in the introduction, or the diagrams and computer code were not present in the book?
Topics for Discussion 98 Literary Precedents
Crichton himself has stated that his work has been heavily influenced by the nineteenth-century novel Frankenstein (1818). Mary Shelley's novel owes much to the traditions of gothic horror fiction but also serves as a bridge to more modern genres of literature where scientists and similar methodical thinkers, like detectives, are the main characters. Thus it is not surprising that Crichton's work also reminds one of the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, particularly the Sherlock Holmes series and the adventure novel The Lost World (1912), in which a scientific expedition discovers a remote enclave of living dinosaurs.
It would be a mistake, however, to call Crichton a science-fiction writer.
This genre comes from different roots and its essential philosophy is much less conservative. In Crichton's thrillers the scientific discoveries of the main characters never affect permanent change: they either self-destruct, as in Jurassic Park, or they are buried beyond hope of recovery, as in Congo (1980), and Sphere (1987). In science-fiction change and the resulting adaptation of society are accepted as inevitable and even desirable more often than not.
Not withstanding that part of Crichton's technique, as well as that of other writers of thrillers, is to write as though his story really happened but news of it has been suppressed, the author has turned away from opportunities to let his imagination really soar, as a science-fiction author might.
Literary Precedents 99 Related Titles
Crichton successfully repeated the theme-park-gone-mad motif of his movie "Westworld" in Jurassic Park, and in a rare move has written a sequel called The Lost World (1995) in homage to A. Conan Doyle's original novel of the same name and prehistoric motif. In it are mostly new characters and situations related to InGen's debacle on the shores of Costa Rica, and one senses that Crichton may have written it in part to answer critics who contended that the science in the first novel left much to be desired. But The Lost World, although thematically simpler than Jurassic Park, nevertheless stands up rather well as entertainment on its own merits. Its characters are appealing, the action is non-stop, and best of all there is a feasible answer to the question that teases dinosaur aficionados everywhere: why did these fascinating creatures die out?
Related Titles 100 Copyright Information
Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults
Editor - Kirk H. Beetz, Ph.D.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults Includes bibliographical references. Summary: A multi-volume compilation of analytical essays on and study activities for fiction, nonfiction, and biographies written for young adults. Includes a short biography for the author of each analyzed work. 1. Young adultsBooks and reading. 2.Young adult literatureHistory and criticism. 3. Young adult literatureBio-bibliography. 4. BiographyBio-bibliography. [1. LiteratureHistory and criticism. 2. LiteratureBio-bibliography] I. Beetz, Kirk H., 1952 Z1037.A1G85 1994 028.1'62 94-18048ISBN 0-933833-32-6
Copyright ©, 1994, by Walton Beacham. All rights to this book are reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or in any information or storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, write the publisher, Beacham Publishing, Inc., 2100 "S" Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008.
Printed in the United States of America First Printing, November 1994
Copyright Information 101